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W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM 



THE CIRCLE 



36'4< 



BY W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM 

Plays: 

THE EXPLORER 

MRS. DOT 

A MAN OF HONOUR 

PENELOPE 

JACK STRAW 

LADY FREDERICK 

THE TENTH MAN 

LANDED GENTRY 

THE UNKNOWN 

SMITH 

Novels: 

OF HUMAN BONDAGE 

THE MOON AND SIXPENCE 

THE TREMBLING OF A LEAF 

LIZA OF LAMBETH 

MRS. CRADDOCK 

THE EXPLORER 

THE MAGICIAN 

THE MERRY-GO-ROUND 



THE LAND OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN 

(Sketches and Impressions in Andalusia) 



THE CIRCLE 

A COMEDY IN THREE ACTS 

y^ BY 

WrSOMERSET MAUGHAM 



NEW ^IJP YORK 
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 



, r 



'^^^^t 



uC? 



c\7^ 



\(V 



COPYRIGHT, 192 1, 
BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 

All applications regarding the Performance Rights 
of this play should be addressed to The American 
Play Company, 33 West 42nd Street, New York, 



g)CU653483 

DEC ?8 \:o 



PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



'^^^ ) 



PERSONS OF THE PLAY 

Clive Champion-Cheney 

Arnold Champion-Cheney, M.P. 

Lord Porteous 

Edward Luton 

Lady Catherine Champion-Cheney 

Elizabeth 

Mrs. Shenstone. 

The action takes place at Aston-Adey, Arnold Champion- 
Cheney s house in Dorset. 



THE FIRST ACT 



THE CIRCLE 



THE FIRST ACT 

The Scene is a stately drawing-room at Jston-Adey, with 
fine pictures on the walls and Georgian furniture. ^ Aston- 
Adey has been described, with many illustrations, in 
Country Life. It is not a house, but a place. Its owner 
takes a great pride in it, and there is nothing in the room 
which is not of the period. Through the French windows 
at the back can be seen the beautiful gardens which are 
one of the features. 
It is a fine summer morning. 

Arnold comes in. He is a man of about thirty-five, tall and 
good-looking, fair, with a clean-cut, sensitive ]ace. He 
has a look that is intellectual, but somewhat bloodless. 
He is very well dressed. 
Arnold. [Calling.] Elizabeth! [He goes to the window 
and calls again.] Elizabeth! [He rings the bell. While 
he is waiting he gives a look round the room. He slightly 
alters the position of one of the chairs. He takes an orna- 
ment from the chimney-piece and blows the dust from it.] 

[A Footman comes in. 
Oh, George! see if you can find Mrs. Cheney, and ask 
her if sheM be good enough to come here. 
Footman. Very good, sir. 

[The Footman turns to go. 
Arnold. Who is supposed to look after this room? 
Footman. I don't know, sir. 

Arnold. I wish when they dust they'd take care to 
replace the things exactly as they were before. 

9 



10 THE CIRCLE [act i 

Footman. Yes, sir. 

Arnold. [Dismissing him.] All right. 

[The Footman goes out. He goes again to the window 
and calls. 

Arnold. Elizabeth! [//<f j^^j Mrs. Shenstone.] Oh, 
Anna, do you know where Elizabeth is? 

[Mrs. Shenstone comes in from the garden. She 
is a woman of forty ^ pleasant and of elegant appear- 
ance. 

Anna. Isn't she playing tennis.? 

Arnold. No, I've been down to the tennis court. 
Something very tiresome has happened. 

Anna. Oh .? 

Arnold. I wonder where the deuce she is. 

Anna. When do you expect Lord Porteous and Lady 
Kitty? 

Arnold. They're motoring down in time for luncheon. 

Anna. Are you sure you want me to be here? It's 
not too late yet, you know. I can have my things packed 
and catch a train for somewhere or other. 

Arnold. No, of course we want you. It'll make it 
so much easier if there are people here. It was exceedingly 
kind of you to come. 

Anna. Oh, nonsense! 

Arnold. And I think it was a good thing to have 
Teddie Luton down. 

Anna. He is so breezy, isn't he? 

Arnold. Yes, that's his great asset. I don't know 
that he's very intelligent, but, you know, there are occa- 
sions when you want a bull in a china shop. I sent one 
of the servants to find Elizabeth. 

Anna. I daresay she's putting on her shoes. She and 
Teddie were going to have a single. 

Arnold. It can't take all this time to change one's 
shoes. 

Anna. [With a smile.] One can't change one's shoes 
without powdering one's nose, you know. 



ACT i] THE CIRCLE 11 

[Elizabeth comes in. She is a very pretty creature 
in the early twenties. She wears a light summer 
frock. 

Arnold. My dear, Fve been hunting for you every- 
where. What have you been doing? 

Elizabeth. Nothing! I've been standing on my head. 

Arnold. My father's here. 

Elizabeth. [Startled.] Where? 

Arnold. At the cottage. He arrived last night. 

Elizabeth. Damn! 

Arnold. [Good-humouredly.] I wish you wouldn't say 
that, Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth. If you're not going to say "Damn" when 
a thing's damnable, when are you going to say *'Damn"? 

Arnold. I should have thought you could say, "Oh, 
bother!" or something like that. 

Elizabeth. But that wouldn't express my sentiments. 
Besides, at that speech day when you were giving away 
the prizes you said there were no synonyms in the Eng- 
lish language. 

Anna. [Smiling.] Oh, Elizabeth! it's very unfair to 
expect a politician to live in private up to the statements 
he makes in public. 

Arnold. I'm always willing to stand by anything 
I've said. There are no synonyms in the English language. 

Elizabeth. In that case I shall be regretfully forced 
to continue to say "Damn" whenever I feel like it. 

[Edward Luton shows himself at the whidow. He is 
an attractive youth in flannels. 

Teddie. I say, what about this tennis? 

Elizabeth. Come in. We're having a scene. 

Teddie. [Entering.] How splendid! What about? 

Elizabeth. The English language. 

Teddie. Don't tell me you've been splitting your 
infinitives. 

Arnold. [With the shadow of a frown.] I wish you'd 
be serious, Elizabeth. The situation is none too pleasant. 



12 THE CIRCLE [act i 

Anna. I think Teddie and I had better make our- 
selves scarce. 

Elizabeth. Nonsense! You're both in it. If there's 
going to be any unpleasantness we want your moral 
support. That's why we asked you to come. 

Teddie. And I thought Vd been asked for my blue 
eyes. 

Elizabeth. Vain beast ! And they happen to be brown. 

Teddie. Is anything up? 

Elizabeth. Arnold's father arrived last night. 

Teddie. Did he, by Jove! I thought he was in Paris. 

Arnold. So did we all. He told me he'd be there for 
the next month. 

Anna. Have you seen him? 

Arnold. No! he rang me up. It's a mercy he had a 
telephone put in the cottage. It would have been a pretty 
kettle of fish if he'd just walked in. 

Elizabeth. Did you tell him Lady Catherine was 
coming ? 

Arnold. Of course not. I was flabbergasted to know 
he was here. And then I thought we'd better talk it 
over first. 

Elizabeth. Is he coming along here? 

Arnold. Yes. He suggested it, and I couldn't think 
of any excuse to prevent him. 

Teddie. Couldn't you put the other people off? 

Arnold. They're coming by car. They may be here 
any minute. It's too late to do that. 

Elizabeth. Besides, it would be beastly. 

Arnold. I knew it was silly to have them here. Eliza- 
beth insisted. 

Elizabeth. After all, she is your mother, Arnold. 

Arnold. That meant precious little to her when she 
— went away. You can't imagine it means very much to 
me now. 

Elizabeth. It's thirty years ago. It seems so absurd 
to bear malice after all that time. 



ACT i] THE CIRCLE 13 

Arnold. I don't bear malice, but the fact remains 
that she did me the most irreparable harm. I can find 
no excuse for her. 

Elizabeth. Have you ever tried to? 

Arnold. My dear Elizabeth, it's no good going over 
all that again. The facts are lamentably simple. She 
had a husband who adored her, a wonderful position, 
all the money she could want, and a child of five. And 
she ran away w4th a married man. 

Elizabeth. Lady Porteous is not a very attractive 
woman, Arnold. [To Anna.] Do you know her.? 

Anna. [Smiling.] "Forbidding" is the word, I think. 

Arnold. If you're going to make little jokes about it, 
I have nothing more to say. 

Anna. I'm sorry, Arnold. 

Elizabeth. Perhaps your mother couldn't help* her- 
self — if she was in love.f* 

Arnold. And had no sense of honour, duty, or decency ? 
Oh, yes, under those circumstances you can explain a 
great deal. 

Elizabeth. That's not a very pretty way to speak of 
your mother. 

Arnold. I can't look on her as my mother. 

Elizabeth. What you can't get over is that she didn't 
think of you. Some of us are more mother and some of 
us more woman. It gives me a little thrill when I think 
that she loved that man so much. She sacrificed her 
name, her position, and her child to him. 

Arnold. You really can't expect the said child to have 
any great affection for the mother who treated him like 
that. 

Elizabeth. No, I don't think I do. But I think 
it's a pity after all these years that you shouldn't be 
friends. 

Arnold. I wonder if you realise what it was to grow 
up under the shadow of that horrible scandal. Every- 
where, at school, and at Oxford, and afterwards in Lon- 



14 THE CIRCLE [act i 

don, I was always the son of Lady Kitty Cheney. Oh, 
it was cruel, cruel! 

Elizabeth. Yes, I know, Arnold. It was beastly 
for you. 

Arnold. It would have been bad enough if it had 
been an ordinary case, but the position of the people 
made it ten times worse. My father was in the House 
then, and Porteous — he hadn't succeeded to the title — 
was in the House too; he was Under-Secretary for Foreign 
Affairs, and he was very much in the public eye. 

Anna. My father always used to say he was the ablest 
man in the party. Every one was expecting him to be 
Prime Minister. 

Arnold. You can imagine what a boon it was to the 
British public. They hadn't had such a treat for a 
generation. The most popular song of the day was 
about my mother. Did you ever hear it.? "Naughty 
Lady Kitty. Thought it such a pity . . ." 

Elizabeth. [Interrupting.] Oh, Arnold, don't! 

Arnold. And then they never let people forget them. 
If they'd lived quietly in Florence and not made a fuss 
the scandal would have died down. But those constant 
actions between Lord and Lady Porteous kept on remind- 
ing everyone. 

Teddie. What were they having actions about? 

Arnold. Of course my father divorced his wife, but 
Lady Porteous refused to divorce Porteous. He tried 
to force her by refusing to support her and turning her 
out of her house, and heaven knows what. They were 
constantly wrangling in the law courts. 

Anna. I think it was monstrous of Lady Porteous. 

Arnold. She knew he wanted to marry my mother, 
and she hated my mother. You can't blame her. 

Anna. It must have been very difficult for them. 

Arnold. That's why they've lived in Florence. Por- 
teous has money. They found people there who were 
willing to accept the situation. 



ACT i] THE CIRCLE 15 

Elizabeth. This is the first time they've ever come 
to England. 

Arnold. My father will have to be told, Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth. Yes. 

Anna. [To Elizabeth.] Has he ever spoken to you 
about Lady Kitty? 

Elizabeth. Never. 

Arnold. I don't think her name has passed his lips 
since she ran away from this house thirty years ago. 

Teddie. Oh, they lived here.? 

Arnold. Naturally. There was a house-party, and 
one evening neither Porteous nor my mother came 
down to dinner. The rest of them waited. They 
couldn't make it out. My father sent up to my mother's 
room, and a note was found on the pin-cushion. 

Elizabeth. [With a faint smile.] That's what they 
did in the Dark Ages. 

Arnold. I think he took a dislike to this house from 
that horrible night. He never lived here again, and 
when I married he handed the place over to me. He just 
has a cottage now on the estate that he comes to when he 
feels inclined, 

Elizabeth. It's been very nice for us. 

Arnold. I owe everything to my father. I don't 
think he'll ever forgive me for asking these people to 
come here. 

Elizabeth. I'm going to take all the blame on my- 
self, Arnold. 

Arnold. [Irritably.] The situation was embarrass- 
ing enough anyhow. I don't know how I ought to treat 
them. 

Elizabeth. Don't you think that'll settle itself when 
you see them? 

Arnold. After all, they're my guests. I shall try 
and behave like a gentleman. 

Elizabeth. I wouldn't. We haven't got central 
heating. 



16 THE CIRCLE [act i 

Arnold. [Taking no notice] Will she expect me to 
kiss her? 

Elizabeth. [With a smile.] Surely. 

Arnold. It always makes me uncomfortable when 
people are effusive. 

Anna. But I can't understand why you never saw 
her before. 

Arnold. I believe she tried to see me when I was 
little, but my father thought it better she shouldn't. 

Anna. Yes, but when you were grown up ? 

Arnold. She was always in Italy. I never went to 
Italy. 

Elizabeth. It seems to me so pathetic that if you 
saw one another in the street you wouldn't recognise 
each other. 

Arnold. Is it my fault? 

Elizabeth. You've promised to be very gentle with 
her and very kind. 

Arnold. The mistake was asking Porteous to come 
too. It looks as though we condoned the whole thing. 
And how am I to treat him? Am I to shake him by the 
hand and slap him on the back? He absolutely ruined 
my father's life. 

Elizabeth. [Smiling.] How much would you give 
for a nice motor accident that prevented them from 
coming? 

Arnold. I let you persuade me against my better 
judgment, and I've regretted it ever since. 

Elizabeth. [Good-humouredly.] I think it's very lucky 
that Anna and Teddie are here. I don't foresee a very 
successful party. 

Arnold. I'm going to do my best. I gave you my 
promise and I shall keep it. But I can't answer for my 
father. 

Anna. Here is your father. 

[Mr. Champion-Cheney shozvs himself at one of the 
French windows. 



ACT i] THE CIRCLE 17 

C.-C. May I come in through the window, or shall I 
have myself announced by a supercilious flunkey? 

Elizabeth. Come in. WeVe been expecting you. 

C.-C. Impatiently, I hope, my dear child. 

[Mr. Champion-Cheney is a tall man in the early six- 
ties, spare, with a fine head of gray hair and an 
intelligent, somewhat ascetic face. He is very care- 
fully dressed. He is a man who makes the most of 
himself. He hears his years jauntily. He kisses 
Elizabeth and then holds out his hand to Arnold. 

Elizabeth. We thought you'd be in Paris for another 
month. 

C.-C. How are you, Arnold ? I always reserve to my- 
self the privilege of changing my mind. It's the only one 
elderly gentlemen share with pretty women. 

Elizabeth. You know Anna. 

C.-C. [Shaking hands with her.] Of course I do. 
How very nice to see you here! Are you staying long? 

Anna. As long as Fm welcome. 

Elizabeth. And this is Mr. Luton. 

C.-C. How do you do? Do you play bridge? 

Luton. I do. 

C.-C. Capital. Do you declare without top honours? 

Luton. Never. 

C.-C. Of such is the kingdom of heaven. I see that 
you are a good young man. 

Luton. But, like the good in general, I am poor. 

C.-C. Never mind; if your principles are right, you 
can play ten shillings a hundred without danger. I never 
play less, and I never play more. 

Arnold. And you — are you going to stay long, father? 

C.-C. To luncheon, if you'll have me. 

[Arnold gives Elizabeth a harassed look, 

Elizabeth. That'll be jolly. 

Arnold. I didn't mean that. Of course you're going 
to stay for luncheon. I meant, how long are you going 
to stay down here? 



18 THE CIRCLE [act i 

C.-C. A week. 

[There is a moment's pause. Everyone hut Champion- 
Cheney is slightly embarrassed. 

Teddie. I think we'd better chuck our tennis. 

Elizabeth. Yes. I want my father-in-law to tell me 
what they're wearing in Paris this week. 

Teddie. I'll go and put the rackets away. 

[Teddie goes out. 

Arnold. It's nearly one o'clock, Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth. I didn't know it was so late. 

Anna. [To Arnold.] I wonder if I can persuade you 
to take a turn in the garden before luncheon. 

Arnold. [Jumping at the idea.] I'd love it. 

[Anna goes out of the window, arid as he follows her he 
stops irresolutely. 
I want you to look at this chair I've just got. I think 
it's rather good. 

C.-C. Charming. 

Arnold. About 1750, I should say. Good design, isn't 
it? It hasn't been restored or anything. 

C.-C. Very pretty. 

Arnold. I think it was a good buy, don't you ? 

C.-C. Oh, my dear boy I you know I'm entirely ignorant 
about these things. 

Arnold. It's exactly my period ... I shall see you at 
luncheon, then. 

[He follows Anna through the window. 

C.-C. Who is that young man.? 

Elizabeth. Mr. Luton. He's only just been demo- 
bilised. He's the manager of a rubber estate in the 
F.M.S. 

C.-C. And what are the F.M.S. when they're at 
home .? 

Elizabeth. The Federated Malay States. He joined 
up at the beginning of the war. He's just going back there. 

C.-C. And why have we been left alone in this very 
marked manner? 



ACT i] THE CIRCLE 19 

Elizabeth. Have we? I didn't notice it. 

C.-C. I suppose it's difficult for the young to realise 
that one may be old without being a fool. 

Elizabeth. I never thought you that. Everyone 
knows you're very intelligent. 

C.-C. They certainly ought to by now. I've told them 
often enough. Are you a little nervous? 

Elizabeth. Let me feel my pulse. [She puts her finger 
on her wrist.] It's perfectly regular. 

C.-C. When I suggested staying to luncheon Arnold 
looked exactly like a dose of castor oil. 

Elizabeth. I wish you'd sit down. 

C.-C. Will it make it easier for you ? [He takes a chair.] 
You have evidently something very disagreeable to say 
to me. 

Elizabeth. You won't be cross with me? 

C.-C. How old are you ? 

Elizabeth. Twenty-five. 

C.-C. I'm never cross with a woman under thirty. 

Elizabeth. Oh, then I've got ten years. 

C.-C. Mathematics? 

Elizabeth. No. Paint. 

C.-C. Well? 

Elizabeth. [Refl^ectively.] I think it would be easier if 
I sat on your knees. 

C.-C. That is a pleasing taste of yours, but you must 
take care not to put on weight. 

[She sits down on his knees. 

Elizabeth. Am I boney? 

C.-C. On the contrary. . . . I'm listening. 

Elizabeth. Lady Catherine's coming here. 

C.-C. Who's Lady Catherine? 

Elizabeth. Your — Arnold's mother. 

C.-C. Is she? 
[He withdraws himself a little and Elizabeth gets 
up. 

Elizabeth. You mustn't blame Arnold. It's my fault. 



20 THE CIRCLE [act i 

I insisted. He was against it. I nagged him till he gave 
way. And then I wrote and asked her to come. 

C.-C. I didn't know you knew her. 

Elizabeth. I don't. But I heard she was in London. 
She's staying at Claridge's. It seemed so heartless not to 
take the smallest notice of her. 

C.-C. When is she coming? 

Elizabeth. We're expecting her in time for luncheon. 

C.-C. As soon as that? I understand the embarrass- 
ment. 

Elizabeth. You see, we never expected you to be 
here. You said you'd be in Paris for another month. 

C.-C. My dear child, this is your house. There's no 
reason why you shouldn't ask whom you please to stay 
with you. 

Elizabeth. After all, whatever her faults, she's 
Arnold's mother. It seemed so unnatural that they 
should never see one another. My heart ached for that 
poor lonely woman. 

C.-C. I never heard that she was lonely, and she cer- 
tainly isn't poor. 

Elizabeth. And there's something else. I couldn't 
ask her by herself. It would have been so — so insulting. 
I asked Lord Porteous, too. 

C.-C. I see. 

Elizabeth. I daresay you'd rather not meet them. 

C.-C. I daresay they'd rather not meet me. I shall 
get a capital luncheon at the cottage. I've noticed you 
always get the best food if you come in unexpectedly and 
have the same as they're having in the servants' hall. 

Elizabeth. No one's ever talked to me about Lady 
Kitty. It's always been a subject that everyone has 
avoided. I've never even seen a photograph of her. 

C.-C. The house was full of them when she left. I 
think I told the butler to throw them in the dust-bin. She 
was very much photographed. 

Elizabeth. Won't you tell me what she was like? 



ACT i] THE CIRCLE 21 

C.-C. She was very like you, Elizabeth, only she had 
dark hair instead of red. 

Elizabeth. Poor dear! it must be quite white now. 

C.-C. I daresay. She was a pretty little thing. 

Elizabeth. But she was one of the great beauties of 
her day. They say she was lovely. 

C.-C. She had the most adorable little nose, like 

yours. . . . 

Elizabeth. D'you Uke my nose? 

C.-C. And she was very dainty, with a beautiful little 
figure; very light on her feet. She was like a marquise 
in an old French comedy. Yes, she was lovely. 

Elizabeth. And I'm sure she's lovely still. 

C.-C. She's no chicken, you know. 

Elizabeth. You can't expect me to look at it as you 
and Arnold do. When you've loved as she's loved you 
may grow old, but you grow old beautifully. 

C.-C. You're very romantic. 

Elizabeth. If everyone hadn't made such a mystery 
of it I daresay I shouldn't feel as I do. I know she did a 
great wrong to you and a great wrong to Arnold. I'm 
willing to acknowledge that. 

C.-C. I'm sure it's very kind of you. 

Elizabeth. But she loved and she dared. Romance 
is such an illusive thing. You read of it in books, but it's 
seldom you see it face to face. I can't help it if it thrills 

me. 

C.-C. I am painfully aware that the husband m these 
cases is not a romantic object. 

Elizabeth. She had the world at her feet. You were 
rich. She was a figure in society. And she gave up every- 
thing for love. ^ 

C.-C. [Dryly.] I'm beginning to suspect it wasn t only 
for her sake and for Arnold's that you asked her to come 

here. t u- i u 

Elizabeth. I seem to know her already. I think her 
face is a little sad, for a love like that doesn't leave you 



22 THE CIRCLE [act i 

gay, it leaves you grave, but I think her pale face is un- 
lined. It's like a child's. 

C.-C. My dear, how you let your imagination run away 
with you! 

Elizabeth. I imagine her slight and frail. 

C.-C. Frail, certainly. 

Elizabeth. With beautiful thin hands and white hair. 
I've pictured her so often in that Renaissance Palace 
that they live in, with old Masters on the walls and 
lovely carved things all round, sitting in a black silk dress 
with old lace round her neck and old-fashioned diamonds. 
You see, I never knew my mother; she died when I was 
a baby. You can't confide in aunts with huge families of 
their own. I want Arnold's mother to be a mother to me. 
I've got so much to say to her. 

C.-C. Are you happy with Arnold ^ 

Elizabeth. Why shouldn't I be? 

C.-C. Why haven't you got any babies? 

Elizabeth. Give us a little time. We've only been 
married three years. 

C.-C. I wonder what Hughie is like now! 

Elizabeth. Lord Porteous? 

C.-C. He wore his clothes better than any man in 
London. You know he'd have been Prime Minister if 
he'd remained in politics. 

Elizabeth. What was he like then ? 

C.-C. He was a nice-looking fellow. Fine horseman. 
I suppose there was something very fascinating about 
him. Yellow hair and blue eyes, you know. He had a 
very good figure. I liked him. I was his parliamentary 
secretary. He was Arnold's godfather. 

Elizabeth. I know. 

C.-C. I wonder if he ever regrets! 

Elizabeth. I wouldn't. 

C.-C. Well, I must be strolling back to my cottage. 

Elizabeth. You're not angry with me? 

C.-C. Not a bit. 



ACT i] THE CIRCLE 23 

[She puts up her face for him to kiss. He kisses her 
on both cheeks and then goes out. In a moment 
Teddie is seen at the window. 

Teddie. I saw the old blighter go. 

Elizabeth. Come in. 

Teddie. Everything all right? 

Elizabeth. Oh, quite, as far as he's concerned. He s 
going to keep out of the way. 

Teddie. Was it beastly? 

Elizabeth. No, he made it very easy for me. He s a 
nice old thing. 

Teddie. You were rather scared. 

Elizabeth. A little. I am still. I don't know why. 

Teddie. I guessed you were. I thought I'd come and 
give you a little moral support. It's ripping here, isn't it? 

Elizabeth. It is rather nice. 

Teddie. It'll be jolly to think of it when I'm back m 
the F.M.S. . . 

Elizabeth. Aren't you homesick sometimes? 

Teddie. Oh, everyone is now and then, you know. 

Elizabeth. You could have got a job in England if 
you'd wanted to, couldn't you? ^ ^ 

Teddie. Oh, but I love it out there. England's ripping 
to come back to, but I couldn't live here now. It's like 
a woman you're desperately in love with as long as you 
don't see her, but when you're with her she maddens you 
so that you can't bear her. 

Elizabeth. \^miling\ What's wrong with England? 

Teddie. I don't think anything's wrong with England. 
I expect something's wrong with me. I've been away 
too long. England seems to me full of people doing things 
they don't want to because other people expect it of them. 

Elizabeth. Isn't that what you call a high degree of 
civilisation ? 

Teddie. People seem to me so insincere. When you 
go to parties in London they're all babbling about art, 
and you feel that in their hearts they don't care twopence 



24 THE CIRCLE [act i 

about it. They read the books that everybody is talking 
about because they don't want to be out of it. In the 
F.M.S. we don't get very many books, and we read those 
we have over and over again. They mean so much to us. 
I don't think the people over there are half so clever as 
the people at home, but one gets to know them better. 
You see, there are so few of us that we have to make the 
best of one another. 

Elizabeth. I imagine that frills are not much worn in 
the F.M.S. It must be a comfort. 

Teddie. It's not much good being pretentious where 
everyone knows exactly who you are and what your 
income is. 

Elizabeth. I don't think you want too much sincerity 
in society. It would be like an iron girder in a house of 
cards. 

Teddie. And then, you know, the place is ripping. 
You get used to a blue sky and you miss it in England. 

Elizabeth. What do you do with yourself all the 
time? 

Teddie. Oh, one works like blazes. You have to be a 
pretty hefty fellow to be a planter. And then there's 
ripping bathing. You know, it's lovely, with palm trees 
all along the beach. And there's shooting. And now and 
then we have a little dance to a gramophone. 

Elizabeth. [Pretending to tease him.] I think you've 
got a young woman out there, Teddie. 

Teddie. [Vehemently.] Oh, no! 

[She is a little taken aback by the earnestness of his 
disclaimer. There is a moment's silence, then she 
recovers herself. 

Elizabeth. But you'll have to marry and settle down 
one of these days, you know. 

Teddie. I want to, but it's not a thing you can do 
lightly. 

Elizabeth. I don't know why there more than else- 
where. 



ACT i] THE CIRCLE 25 

Teddie. In England if people don't get on they go 
their own ways and jog along after a fashion. In a place 
like that you're thrown a great deal on your own re- 
sources. 

Elizabeth. Of course. 

Teddie. Lots of girls come out because they think 
they're going to have a good time. But if they're empty- 
headed, then they're just faced with their own emptiness 
and they're done. If their husbands can afford it they go 
home and settle down as grass-widows. 

Elizabeth. I've met them. They seem to find it a 
very pleasant occupation. 

Teddie. It's rotten for their husbands, though. 

Elizabeth. And if the husbands can't afford it? 

Teddie. Oh, then they tipple. 

Elizabeth. It's not a very alluring prospect. 

Teddie. But if the woman's the right sort she wouldn't 
exchange it for any life in the world. When all's said and 
done it's we who've made the Empire. 

Elizabeth. What sort is the right sort? 

Teddie. A woman of courage and endurance and sin- 
cerity. Of course, it's hopeless unless she's in love with 
her husband. 

[He is looking at her earnestly and she, raising her eyes, 
gives him a long look. There is silence between them. 

Teddie. My house stands on the side of a hill, and 
the cocoanut trees wind down to the shore. Azaleas grow 
in my garden, and camellias, and all sorts of ripping 
flowers. And in front of me is the winding coast line, 

and then the blue sea. 

{A pause. 

Do you know that I'm awfully in love with you? 

Elizabeth. [Gravely.] I wasn't quite sure. I won- 
dered. 

Teddie. And you? 



I've never kissed you. 



[She nods slowly. 



26 THE CIRCLE [act i 

Elizabeth. I don't want you to. 

[They look at one another steadily. They are both 
grave. Arnold comes in hurriedly. 
Arnold. They're coming, Elizabeth. 
Elizabeth. [As though returning from a distant world.] 
Who? 

Arnold. [Impatiently.] My dear! My mother, of 
course. The car is just coming up the drive. 

Teddie. Would you like me to clear out.? 

Arnold. No, no I For goodness' sake stay. 

Elizabeth. We'd better go and meet them, Arnold. 

Arnold. No, no; I think they'd much better be shown 
m. I feel simply sick with nervousness. 

[Anna comes in from the garden. 

Anna. Your guests have arrived. 

Elizabeth. Yes, I know. 

Arnold. I've given orders that luncheon should be 
served at once. 

Elizabeth. Why.? It's not half-past one already, 

IS It? ^ 

Arnold. I thought it would help. When you don't 
know exactly what to say you can always eat. 

[The Butler comes in and announces. 

Butler. Lady Catherine Champion-Cheney! Lord 
Porteous! 

[Lady Kitty comes in followed by Porteous, and the 
Butler goes out. Lady Kitty is a gay little lady, 
with dyed red hair and -painted cheeks. She is some- 
what outrageously dressed. She never forgets that she 
has been a pretty woman and she still behaves as if 
she were twenty-five. Lord Porteous is a very bald, 
elderly gentleman in loose, rather eccentric clothes. 
He is snappy and gruf. This is not at all the couple 
that Elizabeth expected, and for a moment she stares 
at them with round, startled eyes. Lady Kitty^o^j 
up to her with outstretched hands. 
Lady Kitty. Elizabeth! Elizabeth! [She kisses her 



ACT i] THE CIRCLE 27 

effusively.] What an adorable creature! [Turning to ?ok- 
TEOUS.] Hughie, isn't she adorable? 
PoRTEOUS. [With a grunt.] Ugh! 

[Elizabeth, smiling now, turns to him and gives him 
her hand. 
Elizabeth. How d'you do? 

PoRTEOUS. Damnable road you've got down here. 
How d'you do, my dear? Why d'you have such damnable 
roads in England ? 

[Lady Kitty's eyes fall on Teddie and she goes up to 
him with her arms thrown hack, prepared to throw 
them round him. 
Lady Kitty. My boy, my boy! I should have known 
you anywhere! 

Elizabeth. [Hastily.] That's Arnold. 
Lady Kitty. [Without a moment's hesitation.] The 
image of his father! I should have known him anywhere! 
[She throws her arms round his neck.] My boy, my boy! 
PoRTEOUS. [With a grunt.] Ugh! 
Lady Kitty. Tell me, would you have known me 
again ? Have I changed ? 

Arnold. I was only five, you know, when — when 
you ... 

Lady Kitty. [Emotionally.] I remember as if it was 
yesterday. I went up into your room. [With a sudden 
change of manner.] By the way, I always thought that 
nurse drank. Did you ever find out if she really did ? 

PoRTEOUS. How the devil can you expect him to know 
that, Kitty? 

Lady Kitty. You've never had a child, Hughie; how 
can you tell what they know and what they don't? 

Elizabeth. [Coming to the rescue.] This is Arnold, 
Lord Porteous. 

PoRTEOUS. [Shaking hands with him.] How d'you do? 
I knew your father. 
Arnold. Yes. 
Porteous. Alive still? 



28 THE CIRCLE [act i 

Arnold. Yes. 

PoRTEOUS. He must be getting on. Is he well? 

Arnold. Very. 

PoRTEOUS. Ugh! Takes care of himself, I suppose. 
Vm not at all well. This damned climate doesn't agree 
with me. 

Elizabeth. [To Lady Kitty.] This is Mrs. Shen- 
stone. And this is Mr. Luton. I hope you don't mind 
a very small party. 

Lady Kitty. [Shaking hands with Anna and Teddie.] 
Oh, no, I shall enjoy it. I used to give enormous parties 
here. Political, you know. How nice you've made this 
room! 

Elizabeth. Oh, that's Arnold. 

Arnold. [Nervously.] D'you like this chair? I've 
just bought it. It's exactly my period. 

PoRTEOUS. [Bluntly.] It's a fake. 

Arnold. [Indignantly.] I don't think it is for a minute. 

PoRTEOUS. The legs are not right. 

Arnold. I don't know how you can say that. If 
there is anything right about it, it's the legs. 

Lady Kitty. I'm sure they're right. 

PoRTEOUS. You know nothing whatever about it, 
Kitty. 

Lady Kitty. That's what you think. / think it's a 
beautiful chair. Hepplewhite? 

Arnold. No, Sheraton. 

Lady Kitty. Oh, I know. ''The School for Scandal." 

Porteous. Sheraton, my dear. Sheraton. 

Lady Kitty. Yes, that's what I say. I acted the screen 
scene at some amateur theatricals in Florence, and Ermeto 
Novelli, the great Italian tragedian, told me he'd never 
seen a Lady Teazle like me. 

Porteous. Ugh! 

Lady Kitty. [To Elizabeth.] Do you act? 

Elizabeth. Oh, I couldn't. I should be too nervous. 

Lady Kitty. I'm never nervous. I'm a born actress. 



ACT i] THE CIRCLE 29 

Of course, if I had my time over again Vd go on the stage. 
You know, it's extraordinary how they keep young. 
Actresses, I mean. I think it's because they're always 
playing different parts. Hughie, do you think Arnold 
takes after me or after his father? Of course I think he's 
the very image of me. Arnold, I think I ought to tell 
you that I was received into the Catholic Church last 
winter. I'd been thinking about it for years, and last 
time we were at Monte Carlo I met such a nice mon- 
signore. I told him what my difficulties were and he was 
too wonderful. I knew Hughie wouldn't approve, so I 
kept it a secret. [To Elizabeth.] Are you interested in 
religion? I think it's too wonderful. We must have a 
long talk about it one of these days. [Pointing to her frock.] 
Callot? 

Elizabeth. No, Worth. 

Lady Kitty. I knew it was either Worth or Callot. 
Of course, it's line that's the important thing. I go to 
Worth myself, and I always say to him, "Line, my dear 
Worth, line." What is the matter, Hughie? 

PoRTEOUS. These new teeth of mine are so damned 
uncomfortable. 

Lady Kitty. Men are extraordinary. They can't 
stand the smallest discomfort. Why, a woman's life is 
uncomfortable from the moment she gets up in the morn- 
ing till the moment she goes to bed at night. And d'you 
think it's comfortable to sleep with a mask on your face? 

PoRTEOUS. They don't seem to hold up properly. 

Lady Kitty. Well, that's not the fault of your teeth. 
That's the fault of your gums. 

PoRTEOUS. Damned rotten dentist. That's what's the 
matter. 

Lady Kitty. I thought he was a very nice dentist. 
He told me my teeth would last till I was fifty. He has a 
Chinese room. It's so interesting; while he scrapes your 
teeth he tells you all about the dear Empress Dowager. 
Are you interested in China? I think it's too wonderful. 



30 THE CIRCLE [act i 

You know they've cut off their pigtails. I think it's such 
a pity. They were so picturesque. 

[The Butler comes in. 

Butler. Luncheon is served, sir. 

Elizabeth. Would you Hke to see your rooms? 

PoRTEOUS. We can see our rooms after luncheon. 

Lady Kitty. I must powder my nose, Hughie. 

PoRTEOUS. Powder it down here. 

Lady Kitty. I never saw anyone so inconsiderate. 

PoRTEOUS. You'll keep us all waiting half an hour. 
I know you. 

Lady Kitty. [Fumbling in her hag.\ Oh, well, peace at 
any price, as Lord Beaconsfield said. 

PoRTEOUS. He said a lot of damned silly things, Kitty, 
but he never said that. 

[Lady Kitty's face changes. Perplexity is followed hy 
dismay, and dismay hy consternation. 

Lady Kitty. Oh! 

Elizabeth. What is the matter? 

Lady Kitty. [With anguish.] My lip-stick! 

Elizabeth. Can't you find it? 

Lady Kitty. I had it in the car. Hughie, you remem- 
ber that I had it in the car. 

PoRTEOUS. I don't remember anything about it. 

Lady Kitty. Don't be so stupid, Hughie. Why, when 
we came through the gates I said: *'My home, my home!" 
and I took it out and put some on my lips. 

Elizabeth. Perhaps you dropped it in the car. 

Lady Kitty. For heaven's sake send some one to look 
for it. 

Arnold. I'll ring. 

Lady Kitty. I'm absolutely lost without my lip-stick. 
Lend me yours, darling, will you? 

Elizabeth. I'm awfully sorry. I'm afraid I haven't 
got one. 

Lady Kitty. Do you mean to say you don't use a 
lip-stick? 



ACT i] THE CIRCLE 31 

Elizabeth. Never. 

PoRTEOUS. Look at her lips. What the devil d'you 
think she wants muck like that for? 

Lady Kitty. Oh, my dear, what a mistake you make! 
You must use a lip-stick. It's so good for the lips. Men 
like it, you know. I couldn't live without a lip-stick. 

[Champion-Cheney appears at the window holding in 
his upstretched hand a little gold case. 

C.-C. [As he comes in.] Has anyone here lost a dimin- 
utive utensil containing, unless I am mistaken, a favourite 
preparation for the toilet? 

[Arnold and Elizabeth are thunderstruck at his ap- 
pearance and even Teddie and Anna are taken 
aback. But Lady Kitty is overjoyed. 

Lady Kitty. My lip-stick ! 

C.-C. I found it in the drive and I ventured to bring 
it in. 

Lady Kitty. It's Saint Antony. I said a little prayer 
to him when I was hunting in my bag. 

PoRTEOUS. Saint Antony be blowed! It's Clive, by 
God! 

Lady Kitty. [Startled, her attention suddenly turning 
from the lip-stick.] Clive! 

C.-C. You didn't recognise me. It's many years since 
we met. 

Lady Kitty. My poor Clive, your hair has gone quite 
white ! 

C.-C. [Holding out his hand.] I hope you had a pleas- 
ant journey down from London. 

Lady Kitty. [Offering him her cheek.] You may kiss 
me, Clive. 

C.-C. [Kissing her.] You don't mind, Hughie? 

PoRTEOUS. [With a grunt.] Ugh! 

C.-C. [Going up to him cordially.] And how are you, my 
dear Hughie? 

PoRTEOUS. Damned rheumatic if you want to know. 
Filthy climate you have in this country. 



32 THE CIRCLE [act i 

C.-C. Aren't you going to shake hands with me, 
Hughie? 

PoRTEOUS. I have no objection to shaking hands with 
you. 

C.-C. YouVe aged, my poor Hughie. 

PoRTEOUS. Some one was asking me how old you were 
the other day. 

C.-C. Were they surprised when you told them ? 

PoRTEOUS. Surprised! They wondered you weren't 
dead. 

[The Butler comes in. 

Butler. Did you ring, sir? 

Arnold. No. Oh, yes, I did. It doesn't matter now. 

C.-C. [As the Butler is going.] One moment. My 
dear Elizabeth, I've come to throw myself on your mercy. 
My servants are busy with their own affairs. There's not 
a thing for me to eat in my cottage. 

Elizabeth. Oh, but we shall be delighted if you'll 
lunch with us. 

C.-C. It either means that or my immediate death 
from starvation. You don't mind, Arnold.? 

Arnold. My dear father! 

Elizabeth. [To the Butler.] Mr. Cheney will lunch 
here. 

Butler. Very good, ma'am. 

C.-C. [To Lady Kitty.] And what do you think of 
Arnold? 

Lady Kitty. I adore him. 

C.-C. He's grown, hasn't he? But then you'd expect 
him to do that in thirty years. 

Arnold. For God's sake let's go in to lunch, Elizabeth! 



end of the first act 



THE SECOND ACT 



THE SECOND ACT 

The Scene is the same as in the preceding Act. 
It is afternoon. When the curtain rises Porteous and 
Lady Kitty, Anna and Teddie are playing bridge. 
Elizabeth and Champion-Cheney are watching. 
Porteous and Lady Kitty are partners. 

C.-C. When will Arnold be back, Elizabeth? 

Elizabeth. Soon, I think. 

C.-C. Is he addressing a meeting? 

Elizabeth. No, it's only a conference with his agent 
and one or two constituents. 

Porteous. [Irritably.] How anyone can be expected 
to play bridge when people are shouting at the top of 
their voices all round them, I for one cannot understand. 

Elizabeth. [Smiling.] Fm so sorry. 

Anna. I can see your hand, Lord Porteous. 

Porteous. It may help you. 

Lady Kitty. I've told you over and over again to hold 
your cards up. It ruins one's game when one can't help 
seeing one's opponent's hand. 

Porteous. One isn't obliged to look. 

Lady Kitty. What was Arnold's majority at the last 
election ? 

Elizabeth. Seven hundred and something. 

C.-C. He'll have to fight for it if he wants to keep his 
seat next time. 

Porteous. Are we playing bridge, or talking politics? 

Lady Kitty. I never find that conversation interferes 
with my game. 

Porteous. You certainly play no worse when you talk 
than when you hold your tongue. 

35 



36 THE CIRCLE [act ii 

Lady Kitty. I think that's a very offensive thing to 
say, Hughie. Just because I don't play the same game 
as you do you think I can't play. 

PoRTEous. I'm glad you acknowledge it's not the same 
game as I play. But why in God's name do you call it 
bridge.? 

C.-C. I agree with Kitty. I hate people who play 
bridge as though they were at a funeral and knew their 
feet were getting wet. 

PoRTEOus. Of course you take Kitty's part. 

Lady Kitty. That's the least he can do. 

C.-C. I have a naturally cheerful disposition. 

PoRTEous. You've never had anything to sour it. 

Lady Kitty. I don't know what you mean by that, 
Hughie. 

PoRTEOUs. [Trying to contain himself.] Must you 
trump my ace? 

Lady Kitty. [Innocently.] Oh, was that your ace, 
darling.? 

PoRTEOus. [Furiously.] Yes, it was my ace. 

Lady Kitty. Oh, well, it was the only trump I had. 
I shouldn't have made it anyway. 

PoRTEOus. You needn't have told them that. Now 
she knows exactly what I've got. 

Lady Kitty. She knew before. 

PoRTEOus. How could shc know.? 

Lady Kitty. She said she'd seen your hand. 

Anna. Oh, I didn't. I said I could see it. 

Lady Kitty. Well, I naturally supposed that if she 
could see it she did. 

PoRTEOus. Really, Kitty, you have the most extraor- 
dinary ideas. 

C.-C. Not at all. If anyone is such a fool as to show 
me his hand, of course I look at it. 

PoRTEOUS. [Fuming.] If you study the etiquette of 
bridge, you'll discover that onlokers are expected not to 
interfere with the game. 



ACT ii] THE CIRCLE 37 

C.-C. My dear Hughie, this is a matter of ethics, not 
of bridge. 

Anna. Anyhow, I get the game. And rubber. 
Teddie. I claim a revoke. 
PoRTEOUS. Who revoked? 
Teddie. You did. 

PoRTEOUS. Nonsense. I've never revoked in my life. 
Teddie. I'll show you. [He turns over the tricks to 
show the faces of the cards.] You threw away a .club on 
the third heart trick and you had another heart. 
PoRTEOUS. I never had more than two hearts. 
Teddie. Oh, yes, you had. Look here. That's the 
card you played on the last trick but one. 

Lady Kitty. [Delighted to catch him out.] There's no 
doubt about it, Hughie. You. revoked. 

PoRTEOUS. I tell you I did not revoke. I never revoke. 
C.-C. You did, Hughie. I wondered what on earth 
you were doing. 

PoRTEOUS. I don't know how anyone can be expected 
not to revoke when there's this confounded chatter going 
on all the time. 

Teddie. Well, that's another hundred to us. 
PoRTEOUS. [To Champion-Cheney.] I wish you 
wouldn't breathe down my neck. I never can play 
bridge when there's somebody breathing down my neck. 
[The party have risen from the bridge-table y and they 
scatter about the room. 
Anna. Well, I'm going to take a book and lie down in 
the hammock till it's time to dress. 

Teddie. [Who has been adding up.] I'll put it down in 
the book, shall I? 

PoRTEOUS. [Who has not movedy setting out the cards for a 
patience.] Yes, yes, put it down. I never revoke. 

[Anna goes out. 
Lady Kitty. Would you like to come for a little stroll, 
Hughie? 

PoRTEOUS. What for? 



38 THE CIRCLE [act ii 

Lady Kitty. Exercise. 

PoRTEOUS. I hate exercise. 

C.-C. [Looking at the patience.] The seven goes on the 
eight. 

[ Porte ous takes no notice. 

Lady Kitty. The seven goes on the eight, Hughie. 

Port eous. I don't choose to put the seven on the eight. 

C.-C. That knave goes on the queen. 

Porteous. I'm not bUnd, thank you. 

Lady Kitty. The three goes on the four. 

C.-C. All these go over. 

Porteous. [Furiously.] Am I playing this patience, 
or are you playing it? 

Lady Kitty. But you're missing everything. 

Porteous. That's my business. 

C.-C. It's no good losing your temper over it, Hughie. 

Porteous. Go away, both of you. You irritate me. 

Lady Kitty. We were only trying to help you, Hughie. 

Porteous. I don't want to be helped. I want to do 
it by myself. 

Lady Kitty. I think your manners are perfectly 
deplorable, Hughie. 

Porteous. It's simply maddening when you're playing 
patience and people won't leave you alone. 

C.-C. We won't say another word. 

Porteous. That three goes. I believe it's coming out. 
If I'd been such a fool as to put that seven up I shouldn't 
have been able to bring these down. 

[He puts down several cards while they watch him silently. 

Lady Kitty and C.-C. [Together.] The four goes on 
the five. 

Porteous. [Throwing down the cards violently.] Damn 
you! why don't you leave me alone? It's intolerable. 

C.-C. It was coming out, my dear fellow. 

Porteous. I know it was coming out. Confound you! 

Lady Kitty. How petty you are, Hughie! 

Porteous. Petty, be damned! I've told you over and 



ACT ii] THE CIRCLE 39 

over again that I will not be interfered with when Fm 
playing patience. 

Lady Kitty. Don't talk to me like that, Hughie. 

PoRTEOUS. I shall talk to you as I please. 

Lady Kitty. [Beginning to cry.] Oh, you brute! You 
brute! [She flings out of the room.] 

PoRTEOUS. Oh, damn! now she's going to cry. 

[He shambles out into the garden. Champion-Cheney, 
Elizabeth and Teddie are left alone. There is a 
moment's pause. Champion-Cheney looks from 
Teddie to Elizabeth, with an ironical smile. 

C.-C. Upon my soul, they might be married. They 
frip so much. 

Elizabeth. [Frigidly?[ It's been nice of you to come 
here so often since they arrived. It's helped to make 
things easy. 

C.-C. Irony? It's a rhetorical form not much favoured 
in this blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England. 

Elizabeth. What exactly are you getting at? 

C.-C. How slangy the young women of the present 
day are! I suppose the fact that Arnold is a purist leads 
you to the contrary extravagance. 

Elizabeth. Anyhow you know what I mean. 

C.-C. [With a smile.] I have a dim, groping suspicion. 

Elizabeth. You promised to keep away. Why did 
you come back the moment they arrived? 

C.-C. Curiosity, my dear child. A surely pardonable 
curiosity. 

Elizabeth. And since then you've been here all the 
time. You don't generally favour us with so much of 
your company when you're down at your cottage. 

C.-C. I've been excessively amused. 

Elizabeth. It has struck me that whenever they 
started fripping you took a malicious pleasure in goading 
them on. 

C.-C. I don't think there's much love lost between 
them now, do you? 



40 THE CIRCLE [act ii 

[Teddie is making as though to leave the room. 

Elizabeth. Don't go, Teddie. 

C.-C. No, please don't. I'm only staying a minute. 
We were talking about Lady Kitty just before she arrived. 
[To Elizabeth.] Do you remember? The pale, frail lady 
in black satin and old lace. 

Elizabeth. [With a chuckle.] You are a devil, you 
know. 

C.-C. Ah, well, he's always had the reputation of being 
a humorist and a gentleman. 

Elizabeth. Did you expect her to be like that, poor 
dear.? 

C.-C. My dear child, I hadn't the vaguest idea. You 
were asking me the other day what she was like when she 
ran away. I didn't tell you half. She was so gay and so 
natural. Who would have thought that animation would 
turn into such frivolity, and that charming impulsiveness 
lead to such a ridiculous affectation? 

Elizabeth. It rather sets my nerves on edge to hear 
the way you talk of her. 

C.-C. It's the truth that sets your nerves on edge, 
not I. 

Elizabeth. You loved her once. Have you no feeling 
for her at all ? 

C.-C. None. Why should I? 

Elizabeth. She's the mother of your son. 

C.-C. My dear child, you have a charming nature, as 
simple, frank, and artless as hers was. Don't let pure 
humbug obscure your common sense. 

Elizabeth. We have no right to judge. She's only 
been here two days. We know nothing about her. 

C.-C. My dear, her soul is as thickly rouged as her 
face. She hasn't an emotion that's sincere. She's tinsel 
You think I'm a cruel, cynical old man. Why, when I 
think of what she was, if I didn't laugh at what she has 
become I should cry. 

Elizabeth. How do you know she wouldn't be just 



ACT II] / THE CIRCLE 41 

the same now if she'd remained your wife? Do you 
think your influence would have had such a salutary 
effect on her? 

C.-C. [Good-humouredly.] I like you when you're bitter 
and rather insolent. 

Elizabeth. D'you like me enough to answer my 
question ? 

C.-C. She was only twenty-seven when she went away. 
She might have become anything. She might have 
become the woman you expected her to be. There are 
very few of us who are strong enough to make circum- 
stances serve us. We are the creatures of our environ- 
ment. She's a silly, worthless woman because she's led a 
silly, worthless life. 

Elizabeth. [Disturbed.] You're horrible to-day. 

C.-C. I don't say it's I who could have prevented her 
from becoming this ridiculous caricature of a pretty 
woman grown old. But life could. Here she would have 
had the friends fit to her station, and a decent activity, 
and worthy interests. Ask her what her life has been all 
these years among divorced women and kept women and 
the men who consort with them. There is no more 
lamentable pursuit than a life of pleasure. 

Elizabeth. At all events she loved and she loved 
greatly. I have only pity and affection for her. 

C.-C. And if she loved what d'you think she felt when 
she saw that she had ruined Hughie? Look at him. He 
was tight last night after dinner and tight the night 
before. 

Elizabeth. I know. 

C.-C. And she took it as a matter of course. How 
long do you suppose he's been getting tight every night? 
Do you think he was like that thirty years ago? Can 
you imagine that that was a brilliant young man, whom 
everyone expected to be Prime Minister? Look at him 
now. A grumpy sodden old fellow with false teeth. 

Elizabeth. You have false teeth, too. 



42 THE CIRCLE [act ii 

C.-C. Yes, but damn it all, they fit. She's ruined him 
and she knows she's ruined him. 

Elizabeth. [Looking at him suspiciously.] Why are 
you saying all this to me? 

C.-C. Am 1 hurting your feelings? 

Elizabeth. I think I've had enough for the present. 

C.-C. I'll go and have a look at the gold-fish. I want 
to see Arnold when he comes in. [Politely.] I'm afraid 
we've been boring Mr. Luton. 

Teddie. Not at all. 

C.-C. When are you going back to the F.M.S.? 

Teddie. In about a month. 

C.-C. I see. 

[He goes out. 

Elizabeth. I wonder what he has at the back of his 
head. 

Teddie. D'you think he was talking at you? 

Elizabeth. He's as clever as a bagful of monkeys. 
[There is a moment! s pause. Teddie hesitates a little 
and when he speaks it is in a different tone. He is 
grave and somewhat nervous. 

Teddie. It seems very difficult to get a few minutes 
alone with you. I wonder if you've been making it 
difficult? 

Elizabeth. I wanted to think. 

Teddie. I've made up my mind to go away to-morrow. 

Elizabeth. Why? 

Teddie. I want you altogether or not at all. 

Elizabeth. You're so arbitrary. 

Teddie. You said you — you said you cared for me. 

Elizabeth. I do. 

Teddie. Do you mind if we talk it over now? 

Elizabeth. No. 

Teddie. [Frowning.] It makes me feel rather shy and 
awkward. I've repeated to myself over and over again 
exactly what I want to say to you, and now all I'd pre- 
pared seems rather footling. 



ACT II] THE CIRCLE 43 

Elizabeth. Fm so afraid rm going to cry. 
Teddie. I feel it's all so tremendously serious and 1 
think we ought to keep emotion out of it. You're rather 
emotional, aren't you? 

Elizabeth. [Half smiling and half in tears.] So are 
you for the matter of that. 

Teddie. That's why I wanted to have everything I 
meant to say to you cut and dried. 1 think it would 
be awfully unfair if I made love to you and all that sort 
of thing, and you were carried away. I wrote it all down 
and thought I'd send it you as a letter. 
Elizabeth. Why didn't you? 

Teddie. I got the wind up. A letter seems so — so 
cold. You see, 1 love you so awfully. 

Elizabeth. For goodness' sake don't say that. 
Teddie. You mustn't cry. Please don't, or I shall go 
all to pieces. 

Elizabeth. [Trying to smile.] I'm sorry. It doesn't 
mean anything really. It's only tears running out of my 
eyes. 

Teddie. Our only chance is to be awfully matter-of- 
fact. 

[He stops for a moment. He finds it quite difficult to 
control himself. He clears his throat. He frowns 
with annoyance at himself. 
Elizabeth. What's the matter? 

Teddie. I've got a sort of lump in my throat. It is 
idiotic. I think I'll have a cigarette. 

[She watches him in silence while he lights a cigarette. 
You see, I've never been in love with anyone before, not 
really. It's knocked me endways. I don't know how I 
can live without you now. . . . Does that old fool know 
I'm in love with you? 
Elizabeth. I think so. 

Teddie. When he was talking about Lady Kitty 
smashing up Lord Porteous' career I thought there was 
something at the back of it. 



44 THE CIRCLE [act ii 

Elizabeth. I think he was trying to persuade me not 
to smash up yours. 

Teddie. I'm sure that's very considerate of him, but 
I don't happen to have one to smash. I wish I had. 
It's the only time in my hfe I've wished I were a hell 
of a swell so that I could chuck it all and show you how 
much more you are to me than anything else in the world. 

Elizabeth. [Affectionately.] You're a dear old thing, 
Teddie. 

Teddie. You know, I don't really know how to make 
love, but if I did I couldn't do it now because I just want 
to be absolutely practical. 

Elizabeth. [Chaffing him.] I'm glad you don't know 
how to make love. It would be almost more than I 
could bear. 

Teddie. You see, I'm not at all romantic and that sort 
of thing. I'm just a common or garden business man. 
All this is so dreadfully serious and I think we ought to 
be sensible. 

Elizabeth. [With a break in her voice.] You owl! 

Teddie. No, Elizabeth, don't say things like that to 
me. I want you to consider all the pros and cons, and 
my heart's thumping against my chest, and you know 
I love you, I love you, I love you. 

Elizabeth. [In a sigh of passion.] Oh, my precious! 

Teddie. [Impatiently, but with himself, rather than with 
Elizabeth.] Don't be idiotic, Elizabeth. I'm not going 
to tell you that I can't live without you and a lot of 
muck like that. You know that you mean everything 
in the world to me. [Almost giving it up as a had job. 
Oh, my God! 

Elizabeth. [Her voice faltering.] D'you think there's 
anything you can say to me that I don't know already? 

Teddie. [Desperately.] But I haven't said a single 
thing I wanted to. I'm a business man and I want to 
put it all in a business way, if you understand what I 
mean. 



ACT ii] THE CIRCLE 45 

Elizabeth. [Smiling.] I don't believe you're a very- 
good business man. 

Teddie. [Sharply.] You don't know what you're 
talking about. I'm a first-rate business man, but some- 
how this is different. [Hopelessly.] I don't know why it 
won't go right. 

Elizabeth. What are we going to do about it? 

Teddie. You see, it's not just because you're awfully 
pretty that I love you. I'd love you just as much if 
you were old and ugly. It's you I love, not what you 
look like. And it's not only love; love be blowed! 
It's that I like you so tremendously. I think you're 
such a ripping good sort. I just want to be with you. 
I feel so jolly and happy just to think you're there. I'm 
so awfully fond of you. 

Elizabeth. [Laughing through her tears.] I don't know 
if this is your idea of introducing a business proposition. 

Teddie. Damn you, you won't let me. 

Elizabeth. You said "Damn you." 

Teddie. I meant it. 

Elizabeth. Your voice sounded as if you meant it, 
you perfect duck! 

Teddie. Really, Elizabeth, you're intolerable. 

Elizabeth. I'm doing nothing. 

Teddie. Yes, you are, you're putting me off my blow. 
What I want to say is perfectly simple. I'm a very 
ordinary business man. 

Elizabeth. You've said that before. 

Teddie. [Angrily.] Shut up. I haven't got a bob 
besides what I earn. I've got no position. I'm nothing. 
You're rich and you're a big pot and you've got every- 
thing that anyone can want. It's awful cheek my saying 
anything to you at all. But after all there's only one 
thing that really matters in the world, and that's love. 
I love you. Chuck all this, Elizabeth, and come to me. 

Elizabeth. Are you cross with me? 

Teddie. Furious. 



46 THE CIRCLE [act ii 

Elizabeth. Darling 1 

Teddie. If you don't want me tell me so at once and 
let me get out quickly. 

Elizabeth. Teddie, nothing in the world matters any- 
thing to me but you. I'll go wherever you take me. I 
love you. 

Teddie. [Jll to pieces.] Oh, my God! 

Elizabeth. Does it mean as much to you as that? 
Oh, Teddie! 

Teddie. [Trying to control himself.] Don't be a fool, 
Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth. It's you're the fool. You're making me 
cry. 

Teddie. You're so damned emotional. 

Elizabeth. Damned emotional yourself. I'm sure 
you're a rotten business man. 

Teddie. I don't care what you think. You've made 
me so awfully happy. I say, what a lark life's going to be! 

Elizabeth. Teddie, you are an angel. 

Teddie. Let's get out quick. It's no good wasting 
time. Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth. What? 

Teddie. Nothing. I just like to say Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth. You fool! 

Teddie. I say, can you shoot? 

Elizabeth. No. 

Teddie. I'll teach you. You don't know how ripping 
it is to start out from your camp at dawn and travel 
through the jungle. And you're so tired at night and 
the sky's all starry. It's a fair treat. Of course I didn't 
want to say anything about all that till you'd decided. 
I'd made up my mind to be absolutely practical. 

Elizabeth. [Chaffing him.] The only practical thing 
you said was that love is the only thing that really 
matters. 

Teddie. [Happily.] Pull the other leg next time, will 
you? I should have to have one longer than the other. 



ACT ii] THE CIRCLE 47 

Elizabeth. Isn't it fun being in love with some one 
who's in love with you? 

Teddie. I say, I think I'd better clear out at once, 

don't you? It seems rather rotten to stay on in — in this 

house. 

Elizabeth. You can't go to-night. There's no train. 

Teddie. I'll go to-morrow. I'll wait in London till 

you're ready to join me. 

Elizabeth. I'm not going to leave a note on the pin- 
cushion like Lady Kitty, you know. I'm going to tell 
Arnold. 

Teddie. Are you? Don't you think there'll be an 
awful bother? 

Elizabeth. I must face it. I should hate to be sly 
and deceitful. 
Teddie. Well, then, let's face it together. 
Elizabeth. No, I'll talk to Arnold by myself. 
Teddie. You won't let anyone influence you? 
Elizabeth. No. 

[He holds out his hand and she takes it. They look 
into one another's eyes with grave, almost solemn 
affection. There is the sound outside of a car driving up. 
Elizabeth. There's the car. Arnold's come back. I 
must go and bathe my eyes. I don't want them to see 
I've been crying. 
Teddie. All right. [As she is going.] Elizabeth. 
Elizabeth. [Stopping.] What? 
Teddie. Bless you. 

Elizabeth. [Affectionately.] Idiot! >^ 

[She goes out of the door and Teddie through the French 
window into the garden. For an instant the room is 
empty. Arnold comes in. He sits down and takes 
some papers out of his despatch-case. Lady Kitty 
enters. He gets up. 
Lady Kitty. I saw you come in. Oh, my dear, don't 
get up. There's no reason why you should be so dread- 
fully polite to me. 



48 THE CIRCLE [act ii 

Arnold. I've just rung for a cup of tea. 

Lady Kitty. Perhaps we shall have the chance of a 
little talk. We don't seem to have had five minutes by 
ourselves. I want to make your acquaintance, you know. 

Arnold. I should like you to know that it's not by my 
wish that my father is here. 

Lady Kitty. But I'm so interested to see him. 

Arnold. I was afraid that you and Lord Porteous 
must find it embarrassing. 

Lady Kitty. Oh, no. Hughie was his greatest friend. 
They were at Eton and Oxford together. 1 think your 
father has improved so much since I saw him last. He 
wasn't good-looking as a young man, but now he's quite 
handsome. 

[The Footman brings in a tray on which are tea-things. 

Lady Kitty. Shall I pour it out for you? 

Arnold. Thank you very much. 

Lady Kitty. Do you take sugar? 

Arnold. No. I gave it up during the war. 

Lady Kitty. So wise of you. It's so bad for the figure. 
Besides being patriotic, of course. Isn't it absurd that 
I should ask my son if he takes sugar or not? Life is 
really very quaint. Sad, of course, but oh, so quaint! 
Often I lie in bed at night and have a good laugh to myself 
as I think how quaint life is. 

Arnold. I'm afraid I'm a very serious person. 

Lady Kitty. How old are you now, Arnold? 

Arnold. Thirty-five. 

Lady Kitty. Are you really? Of course, I was a child 
when I married your father. 

Arnold. Really. He always told me you were 
twenty-two. 

Lady Kitty. Oh, what nonsense! Why, I was mar- 
ried out of the nursery. I put my hair up for the first 
time on my wedding-day. 

Arnold. Where is Lord Porteous? 

Lady Kitty. My dear, it sounds too absurd to hear 



ACT ii] THE CIRCLE 49 

you call him Lord Porteous. Why don't you call him — 
Uncle Hughie? 

Arnold. He doesn't happen to be my uncle. 

Lady Kitty. No, but he's your godfather. You know, 
I'm sure you'll like him when you know him better. 
I'm so hoping that you and Elizabeth will come and stay 
with us in Florence. I simply adore Elizabeth. She's 
too beautiful. 

Arnold. Her hair is very pretty. 

Lady Kitty. It's not touched up, is it? 

Arnold. Oh, no. 

Lady Kitty. I just wondered. It's rather a coinci- 
dence that her hair should be the same colour as mine. 
I suppose it shows that your father and you are at- 
tracted by just the same thing. So interesting, heredity, 
isn't it-f* 

Arnold. Very. 

Lady Kitty. Of course, since I joined the Catholic 
Church I don't believe in it any more. Darwin and 
all that sort of thing. Too dreadful. Wicked, you know. 
Besides, it's not very good form, is it? 

[Champion-Cheney comes in from the garden. 

C.-C. Do I intrude? 

Lady Kitty. Come in, Clive. Arnold and I have been 
having such a wonderful heart-to-heart talk. 

C.-C. Very nice. 

Arnold. Father, I stepped in for a moment at the 
Harveys' on my way back. It's simply criminal what 
they're doing with that house. 

C.-C. What are they doing? 

Arnold. It's an almost perfect Georgian house and 
they've got a lot of dreadful Victorian furniture. I gave 
them my ideas on the subject, but it's quite hopeless. 
They said they were attached to their furniture. 

C.-C. Arnold should have been an interior decorator. 

Lady Kitty. He has wonderful taste. He gets that 
from me. 



50 THE CIRCLE [act ii 

Arnold. I suppose I have a certain flair. I have a 
passion for decorating houses. 

Lady Kitty. You've made this one charming. 

C.-C. D*you remember, we just had chintzes and 
comfortable chairs when we lived here, Kitty. 

Lady Kitty. Perfectly hideous, wasn't it? 

C.-C. In those days gentlemen and ladies were not 
expected to have taste. 

Arnold. You know, I've been looking at this chair 
again. Since Lord Porteous said the legs weren't right 
I've been very uneasy. 

Lady Kitty. He only said that because he was in a 
bad temper. 

C.-C. His temper seems to me very short these days, 
Kitty. 

Lady Kitty. Oh, it is. 

Arnold. You feel he knows what he's talking about. 
I gave seventy-five pounds for that chair. I'm very 
seldom taken in. I always think if a thing's right you 
feel it. 

C.-C. Well, don't let it disturb your night's rest. 

Arnold. But, my dear father, that's just what it does. 
I had a most horrible dream about it last night. 

Lady Kitty. Here is Hughie. 

Arnold. I'm going to fetch a book I have on Old 
English furniture. There's an illustration of a chair 
which is almost identical with this one. 

[Porteous comes in. 

Porteous. Quite a family gathering, by George! 

C.-C. I was thinking just now we'd make a very pleas- 
ing picture of a typical English home. 

Arnold. I'll be back in five minutes. There's some- 
thing I want to show you. Lord Porteous. 

[He goes out. 

C.-C. Would you like to play piquet with me, Hughie ? 

Porteous. Not particularly. 

C.-C. You were never much of a piquet player, were you ? 



ACT ii] THE CIRCLE 51 

PoRTEOUS. My dear Clive, you people don't know what 
piquet is in England. 

C.-C. Let's have a game then. You may make money. 

PoRTEOUS. I don't want to play with you. 

Lady Kitty. I don't know why not, Hughie. 

PoRTEOUS. Let me tell you that I don't like your 
manner. 

C.-C. I'm sorry for that. I'm afraid I can't offer to 
change it at my age. 

PoRTEOUS. I don't know what you want to be hanging 
around here for. 

C.-C. A natural attachment to my home. 

PoRTEOUS. If you'd had any tact you'd have kept out 
of the way while we were here. 

C.-C. My dear Hughie, I don't understand your atti- 
tude at all. If I'm willing to let bygones be bygones why 
should you object? 

PoRTEOUS. Damn it all, they're not bygones. 

C.-C. After all, I am the injured party. 

PoRTEOUS. How the devil are you the injured party ? 

C.-C. Well, you did run away with my wife, didn't you ? 

Lady Kitty. Now, don't let's go into ancient history. 
I can't see why we shouldn't all be friends. 

PoRTEOUS. I beg you not to interfere, Kitty. 

Lady Kitty. I'm very fond of Clive. 

PoRTEOUS. You never cared two straws for Clive. 
You only say that to irritate me. 

Lady Kitty. Not at all. I don't see why he shouldn't 
come and stay with us. 

C.-C. I'd love to. I think Florence in spring-time is 
delightful. Have you central heating? 

PoRTEOUS. I never liked you, I don't like you now, 
and I never shall like you. 

C.-C. How very unfortunate! because I liked you, I 
like you now, and I shall continue to like you. 

Lady Kitty. There's something very nice about you, 
Clive. 



52 THE CIRCLE [act ii 

PoRTEOUS. If you think that, why the devil did you 
leave him? 

Lady Kitty. Are you going to reproach me because I 
loved you? How utterly, utterly, utterly detestable you 
are! 

C.-C. Now, now, don't quarrel with one another. 

Lady Kitty. It's all his fault. I'm the easiest person 
in the world to live with. But really he'd try the patience 
of a saint. 

C.-C. Come, come, don't get upset, Kitty. When two 
people live together there must be a certain amount of 
give and take. 

PoRTEOUS. I don't know what the devil you're talking 
about. 

C.-C. It hasn't escaped my observation that you are 
a little inclined to frip. Many couples are. I think it's 
a pity. 

PoRTEOUS. Would you have the very great kindness 
to mind your own business? 

Lady Kitty. It is his business. He naturally wants 
me to be happy. 

C.-C. I have the very greatest affection for Kitty. 

Porteous. Then why the devil didn't you look after 
her properly? 

C.-C. My dear Hughie, you were my greatest friend. 
I trusted you. It may have been rash. 

Porteous. It was inexcusable. 

Lady Kitty. I don't know what you mean by that, 
Hughie. 

Porteous. Don't, don't, don't try and bully me, Kitty. 

Lady Kitty. Oh, I know what you mean. 

Porteous. Then why the devil did you say you didn't? 

Lady Kitty. When I think that I sacrificed everything 
for that man! And for thirty years I've had to live in a 
filthy marble palace with no sanitary conveniences. 

C.-C. D'you mean to say you haven't got a bath- 
room? 



ACT n] THE CIRCLE 53 

Lady Kitty. I've had to wash in a tub. 

C.-C. My poor Kitty, how you've suffered! 

PoRTEOUS. Really, Kitty, I'm sick of hearing of the 
sacrifices you made. I suppose you think I sacrificed 
nothing. I should have been Prime Minister by now if it 
hadn't been for you. 

Lady Kitty. Nonsense! 

PoRTEOUS. What do you mean by that? Everyone 
said I should be Prime Minister. Shouldn't I have been 
Prime Minister, Clive? 

C.-C. It was certainly the general expectation. 

PoRTEOUS. I was the most promising young man of 
my day. I was bound to get a seat in the Cabinet at the 
next election. 

Lady Kitty. They'd have found you out just as I've 
found you out. I'm sick of hearing that I ruined your 
career. You never had a career to ruin. Prime Minister! 
You haven't the brain. You haven't the character. 

C.-C. Cheek, push, and a gift of the gab will serve 
very well instead, you know. 

Lady Kitty. Besides, in politics it's not the men that 
matter. It's the women at the back of them. I could 
have made Clive a Cabinet Minister if I'd wanted to. 

PoRTEOus. Clive? 

Lady Kitty. With my beauty, my charm, my force of 
character, my wit, I could have done anything. 

PoRTEOUS. Clive was nothing but my political secre- 
tary. When I was Prime Minister I might have made 
him Governor of some Colony or other. Western Aus- 
tralia, say. Out of pure kindliness. 

Lady Kitty. [With flashing eyes.] D'you think I would 
have buried myself in Western Australia? With my 
beaut j^ ? My charm ? 

PoRTEOUs. Or Barbadoes, perhaps. 

Lady Kitty. [Furiously.] Barbadoes! Barbadoes can 
go to — Barbadoes. 

Porteous. That's all you'd have got. 



54 THE CIRCLE [act ii 

Lady Kitty. Nonsense! I'd have India. 

PoRTEOUS. I would never have given you India. 

Lady Kitty. You would have given me India. 

PoRTEOUS. I tell you I wouldn't. 

Lady Kitty. The King would have given me India. 
The nation would have insisted on my having India. I 
would have been a vice-reine or nothing. 

PoRTEOUS. I tell you that as long as the interests of 
the British Empire — Damn it all, my teeth are coming out! 

[He hurries from the room. 

Lady Kitty. It's too much. I can't bear it any more. 
I've put up with him for thirty years and now I'm at the 
end of my tether. 

C.-C. Calm yourself, my dear Kitty. 

Lady Kitty. I won't listen to a word. I've quite 
made up my mind. It's finished, finished, finished. 
[With a change of tone.] I was so touched when I heard 
that you never lived in this house again after I left it. 

C.-C. The cuckoos have always been very plentiful. 
Their note has a personal application which, I must say, 
I have found extremely offensive. 

Lady Kitty. When I saw that you didn't marry again 
I couldn't help thinking that you still loved me. 

C.-C. I am one of the few men I know who is able to 
profit by experience. 

Lady Kitty. In the eyes of the Church I am still your 
wife. The Church is so wise. It knows that in the end 
a woman always comes back to her first love. Clive, 
I am willing to return to you. 

C.-C. My dear Kitty, I couldn't take advantage of 
your momentary vexation with Hughie to let you take a 
step which I know you would bitterly regret. 

Lady Kitty. You've waited for me a long time. For 
Arnold's sake. 

C.-C. Do you think we really need bother about 
Arnold? In the last thirty years he's had time to grow 
used to the situation. 



ACT ii] THE CIRCLE 55 

Lady Kitty. [With a little smile.] I think I've sown 
my wild oats, Clive. 

C.-C. I haven't. I was a good young man, Kitty. 

Lady Kitty. I know. 

C.-C. And I'm very glad, because it has enabled me 
to be a wicked old one. 

Lady Kitty. I beg your pardon. 

[Arnold comes in with a large hook in his hand. 

Arnold. I say, I've found the book I was hunting for. 
Oh! isn't Lord Porteous here? 

Lady Kitty. One moment, Arnold. Your father and 
I are busy. • 

Arnold. I'm so sorry. 

[He goes out into the garden. 

Lady Kitty. Explain yourself, Clive. 

C.-C. When you ran away from me, Kitty, I was sore 
and angry and miserable. But above all I felt a fool. 

Lady Kitty. Men are so vain. 

C.-C. But I was a student of history, and presently 
I reflected that I shared my misfortune with very nearly 
all the greatest men. 

Lady Kitty. I'm a great reader myself. It has always 
struck me as peculiar. 

C.-C. The explanation is very simple, \yomen dis- 
like intelligence, and when they find it in their husbands 
they revenge themselves on them in the only way they 
can, by making them— well, what you made me. 

Lady Kitty. It's ingenious. It may be true. 

C.-C. I felt I had done my duty by society and I 
determined to devote the rest of my life to my own enter- 
tainment. The House of Commons had always bored 
me excessively and the scandal of our divorce gave me an 
opportunity to resign my seat. I have been relieved to 
find that the country got on perfectly well without me. 

Lady Kitty. But has love never entered your life? 

C.-C. Tell me frankly, Kitty, don't you think people 
make a lot of unnecessary fuss about love? 



50 THE CIRCLE [act ii 

Lady Kitty. It's the most wonderful thing in the 
world. 

C.-C. You're incorrigible. Do you really think it 
was worth sacrificing so much for.? 

Lady Kitty. My dear Clive, I don't mind telling you 
that if I had my time over again I should be unfaithful 
to you, but I should not leave you. 

C.-C. For some years I was notoriously the prey of a 
secret sorrow. But I found so many charming creatures 
who were anxious to console that in the end it grew 
rather fatiguing. Out of regard to my health I ceased 
to frequent the drawing-rooms of Mayfair. 

Lady Kitty. And since then ? 

C.-C. Since then I have allowed myself the luxury of 
assisting financially a succession of dear little things, in a 
somewhat humble sphere, between the ages of twenty 
and twenty-five. 

Lady Kitty. I cannot understand the infatuation of 
men for young girls. I think they're so dull. 

C.-C. It's a matter of taste. I love old wine, old 
friends and old books, but I like young women. On 
their twenty-fifth birthday I give them a diamond ring 
and tell them they must no longer waste their youth and 
beauty on an old fogey like me. We have a most affect- 
ing scene, my technique on these occasions is perfect, 
and then I start all over again. 

Lady Kitty. You're a wicked old man, Clive. 

C.-C. That's what I told you. But, by George! I'm 
a happy one. 

Lady Kitty. There's only one course open to me now. 

C.-C. What is that? 

Lady Kitty. [With a flashing smile.] To go and dress 
for dinner. 

C.-C. Capital. I will follow your example. 

[As Lady Kitty goes out Elizabeth comes in. 

Elizabeth. Where is Arnold.? 

C.-C. He's on the terrace. I'll call him. 



ACT ii] THE CIRCLE 57 

Elizabeth. Don't bother. 

C.-C. I was just strolling along to my cottage to put 
on a dinner jacket. [As he goes out.\ Arnold. 

[Exit C.-C. 

Arnold. Hulloa! [He comes in.] Oh, Elizabeth, Fve 
found an illustration here of a chair which is almost 
identical with mine. It's dated 1750. Look! 

Elizabeth. That's very interesting. 

Arnold. I want to show it to Porteous. [Moving a 
chair which has been misplaced.] You know, it does ex- 
asperate me the way people will not leave things alone. 
I no sooner put a thing in its place than somebody 
moves it. 

Elizabeth. It must be maddening for you. 

Arnold. It is. You are the worst offender. I can't 
think why you don't take the pride that I do in the house. 
After all, it's one of the show places in the county. 

Elizabeth. I'm afraid you find me very unsatisfactory. 

Arnold. [Good-humouredly .] I don't know about that. 
But my two subjects are politics and decoration. I should 
be a perfect fool if I didn't see that you don't care two 
straws about either. 

Elizabeth. We haven't very much in common, Arnold, 
have we? 

Arnold. I don't think you can blame me for that. 

Elizabeth. I don't. I blame you for nothing. I have 
no fault to find with you. 

Arnold. [Surprised at her significant tone.] Good 
gracious me! what's the meaning of all this? 

Elizabeth. Well, I don't think there's any object in 
beating about the bush. I want you to let me go. 

Arnold. Go where? 

Elizabeth. Away. For always. 

Arnold. My dear child, what are you talking about? 

Elizabeth. I want to be free. 

Arnold. [Amused rather than disconcerted.] Don't be 
ridiculous, darling. I daresay you're run down and want 



58 THE CIRCLE [act ii 

a change. I'll take you over to Paris for a fortnight if 
you like. 

Elizabeth. I shouldn't have spoken to you if I hadn't 
quite made up my mind. We've been married for three 
years and I don't think it's been a great success. I'm 
frankly bored by the life you want me to lead. 

Arnold. Well, if you'll allow me to say so, the fault 
IS yours. We lead a very distinguished, useful life. We 
know a lot of extremely nice people. 

Elizabeth. I'm quite willing to allow that the fault is 
mme. But how does that make it any better? I'm 
only twenty-five. If I've made a mistake I have time to 
correct it. 

. • Arnold. I can't bring myself to take you very seri- 
ously. 

Elizabeth. You see, I don't love you. 

Arnold. Well, I'm awfully sorry. But you weren't 
obliged to marry me. You've made your bed and I'm 
afraid you must lie on it. 

Elizabeth. That's one of the falsest proverbs in the 
English language. Why should you lie on the bed you've 
made if you don't want to.? There's always the floor. 

Arnold. For goodness' sake don't be funny, Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth. I've quite made up my mind to leave you, 
Arnold. 

Arnold.^ Come, come, Elizabeth, you must be sensible. 
You haven't any reason to leave me. 

Elizabeth. Why should you wish to keep a woman 
tied to you who wants to be free? 

Arnold. I happen to be in love with you. 

Elizabeth. You might have said that before. 

Arnold. I thought you'd take it for granted. You 
can't expect a man to go on making love to his wife after 
three years. I'm very busy. I'm awfully keen on politics 
and I've worked like a dog to make this house a thing of 
beauty. After all, a man marries to have a home, but 
also because he doesn't want to be bothered with sex and 



ACT ii] THE CIRCLE 59 

all that sort of thing. I fell in love with you the first 
time I saw you and Fve been in love ever since. 

Elizabeth. Fm sorry, but if you're not in love with a 
man his love doesn't mean very much to you. 

Arnold. It's so ungrateful. I've done everything in 
the world for you. 

Elizabeth. You've been very kind to me. But 
you've asked me to lead a life I don't like and that I'm 
not suited for. I'm awfully sorry to cause you pain, 
but now you must let me go. 

Arnold. Nonsense! I'm a good deal older than you 
are and I think I have a little more sense. In your in- 
terests as well as in mine I'm not going to do anything 
of the sort. 

Elizabeth. [fVith a smile.] How can you prevent me? 
You can't keep me under lock and key. 

Arnold. Please don't talk to me as if I were a foolish 
child. You're my wife and you're going to remain my 
wife. 

Elizabeth. What sort of a life do you think we should 
lead? Do you think there'd be any more happiness for 
you than for me? 

Arnold. But what is it precisely that you suggest? 

Elizabeth. Well, I want you to let me divorce you. 

Arnold. [Astounded.] Me? Thank you very much. 
Are you under the impression I'm going to sacrifice my 
career for a whim of yours ? 

Elizabeth. How will it do that? 

Arnold. My seat's wobbly enough as it is. Do you 
think I'd be able to hold it if I were in a divorce case? 
Even if it were a put-up job, as most divorces are nowa- 
days, it would damn me. 

Elizabeth. It's rather hard on a woman to be divorced. 

Arnold. [With sudden suspicion.] What do you mean 
by that? Are you in love with some one? 

Elizabeth. Yes. 

Arnold. Who ? 



60 THE CIRCLE [act n 

Elizabeth. Teddie Luton. 

[He is astonished for a moment, then bursts into a laugh. 

Arnold. My poor child, how can you be so ridiculous.? 
Why, he hasn't a bob. He's a perfectly commonplace 
young man. It's so absurd I can't even be angry with you. 

Elizabeth. I've fallen desperately in love with him, 
Arnold. 

Arnold. Well, you'd better fall desperately out. 

Elizabeth. He wants to marry me. 

Arnold. I daresay he does. He can go to hell. 

Elizabeth. It's no good talking like that. 

Arnold. Is he your lover? 

Elizabeth. No, certainly not. 

Arnold. It shows that he's a mean skunk to take 
advantage of my hospitality to make love to you. 

Elizabeth. He's never even kissed me. 

Arnold. I'd try telling that to the horse marines if I 
were you. 

Elizabeth. It's because I wanted to do nothing shabby 
that I told you straight out how things were. 

Arnold. How long have you been thinking of this? 

Elizabeth. I've been in love with Teddie ever since 
I knew him. 

Arnold. And you never thought of me at all, I suppose. 

Elizabeth. Oh, yes, I did. I was miserable. But I 
can't help myself. I wish I loved you, but I don't. 

Arnold. I recommend you to think very carefully 
before you do anything foolish. 

Elizabeth. I have thought very carefully. 

Arnold. By God! I don't know why I don't give 
you a sound hiding. I'm not sure if that wouldn't be 
the best thing to bring you to your senses. 

Elizabeth. Oh, Arnold, don't take it like that. 

Arnold. How do you expect me to take it ? You come 
to me quite calmly and say: "I've had enough of you. 
We've been married three years and I think I'd like to 
marry somebody else now. Shall I break up your home? 



ACT ii] THE CIRCLE 61 

What a bore for you! Do you mind my divorcing you? 
It'll smash up your career, will it? What a pity!" Oh, 
no, my girl, I may be a fool, but Fm not a damned fool. 

Elizabeth. Teddie is leaving here by the first train 
to-morrow. I warn you that I mean to join him as soon 
as he can make the necessary arrangements. 

Arnold. Where is he? 

Elizabeth. I don't know. I suppose he's in his room. 
[Arnold goes to the door and calls. 

Arnold. George! 

[For a moment he walks up and down the room im- 
patiently. Elizabeth watches him. The Footman 
comes in. 

Footman. Yes, sir. 

Arnold. Tell Mr. Luton to come here at once. 

Elizabeth. Ask Mr. Luton if he wouldn't mind coming 
here for a moment. 

Footman. Very good, madam. 

[Exit Footman. 

Elizabeth. What are you going to say to him? 

Arnold. That's my business. 

Elizabeth. I wouldn't make a scene if I were you. 

Arnold. I'm not going to make a scene. 

[They wait in silence. 
Why did you insist on my mother coming here? 

Elizabeth. It seemed to me rather absurd to take up 
the attitude that I should be contaminated by her when . . . 

Arnold. [Interrupting.] When you were proposing to 
do exactly the same thing. Well, now you've seen her 
what do you think of her? Do you think it's been a 
success? Is that the sort of woman a man would like his 
mother to be ? 

Elizabeth. I've been ashamed. I've been so sorry. 
It all seemed dreadful and horrible. This morning I 
happened to notice a rose in the garden. It was all over- 
blown and bedraggled. It looked like a painted old 
woman. And I remembered that I'd looked at it a day 



62 THE CIRCLE [act ii 

or two ago. It was lovely then, fresh and blooming and 
fragrant. It may be hideous now, but that doesn't 
take away from the beauty it had once. That was real. 

Arnold. Poetry, by God ! As if this were the moment 
for poetry! 

[Teddie comes in. He has changed into a dinner jacket. 

Teddie. [To Elizabeth.] Did you want me.? 

Arnold. / sent for you. 

[Teddie looks from Arnold to Elizabeth. He sees 
that something has happe^ied. 
When would it be convenient for you to leave this 
house? 

Teddie. I w^as proposing to go to-morrow morning. 
But I can very well go at once if you like. 

Arnold. I do like. 

Teddie. Very well. Is there anything else you wish 
to say to me? 

Arnold. Do you think it was a very honourable thing 
to come down here and make love to my wife? 

Teddie. No, I don't. I haven't been very happy about 
it. That's why I wanted to go away. 

Arnold. Upon my word you're cool. 

Teddie. I'm afraid it's no good saying I'm sorry and 
that sort of thing. You know what the situation is. 

Arnold. Is it true that you want to marry Elizabeth? 

Teddie. Yes. I should like to marry her as soon as 
ever I can. 

Arnold. Have you thought of me at all ? Has it struck 
you that you're destroying my home and breaking up my 
happiness? 

Teddie. I don't see how there could be much happiness 
for you if Elizabeth doesn't care for you. 

Arnold. Let me tell you that I refuse to have my home 
broken up by a twopenny-halfpenny adventurer who takes 
advantage of a foolish woman. I refuse to allow myself 
to be divorced. I can't prevent my wife from going ofF 
with you if she's determined to make a damned fool of 



ACT ii] THE CIRCLE 63 

herself, but this I tell you: nothing will induce me to 
divorce her. 

Elizabeth. Arnold, that would be monstrous. 

Teddie. We could force you. 

Arnold. How? 

Teddie. If we went away together openly you'd have 
to bring an action. 

Arnold. Twenty-four hours after you leave this house 
I shall go down to Brighton with a chorus-girl. And 
neither you nor I will be able to get a divorce. WeVe 
had enough divorces in our family. And now get out, 
get out, get out! 

[Teddie looks uncertainly at Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth. [With a little smile.] Don't bother about 
me. I shall be all right. 

Arnold. Get out! Get out! 



end of the second act 



THE THIRD ACT 



THE THIRD ACT 

The Scene is the same as in the preceding Acts. 

It is the night of the same day as that on which takes place 

the action of the second Act. 
Champion-Cheney and Arnold, both in dinner jackets, are 
discovered. Champion-Cheney is seated. Arnold 
walks restlessly up and down the room. 

C.-C. I think, if you'll follow my advice to the letter, 
you'll probably work the trick. 

Arnold. I don't like it, you know. It's against all my 
principles. 

C.-C. My dear Arnold, we all hope that you have 
before you a distinguished political career. You can't 
learn too soon that the most useful thing about a principle 
is that it can always be sacrificed to expediency. 

Arnold. But supposing it doesn't come off.? Women 
are incalculable. 

C.-C. Nonsense! Men are romantic. A woman will 
always sacrifice herself if you give her the opportunity. 
It is her favourite form of self-indulgence. 

Arnold. I never know whether you're a humorist or 
a cynic, father. 

C.-C. I'm neither, my dear boy; I'm merely a very 
truthful man. But people are so unused to the truth 
that they're apt to mistake it for a joke or a sneer. 

Arnold. [Irritably.] It seems so unfair that this should 
happen to me. 

C.-C. Keep your head, my boy, and do what I tell 
you. 

[Lady Kitty and Elizabeth come in. Lady Kitty 
is in a gorgeous evening gown. 
67 



68 THE CIRCLE [act hi 

Elizabeth. Where is Lord Porteous? 
C.-C. He*s on the terrace. He's smoking a cigar. [Go- 
ing to window.] Hughie! 

[Porteous comes in. 
Porteous. [With a grunt.] Yes? Where's Mrs. Shen- 
stone .? 

Elizabeth. Oh, she had a headache. She's gone to 
bed. 

[When Porteous comes in Lady Kitty with a very 
haughty air purses her lips and takes up an illus- 
trated paper. Porteous gives her an irritated look, 
takes another illustrated paper and sits himself down 
at the other end of ihe room. They are not on speaking 
terms. 
C.-C. Arnold and I have just been down to my cottage. 
Elizabeth. I wondered where you'd gone. 
C.-C. I came across an old photograph album this after- 
noon. I meant to bring it along before dinner, but I for- 
got, so we went and fetched it. 

Elizabeth. Oh, do let me see it! I love old photo- 
graphs. 

[He gives her the album, and she, sitting down, puts it 

on her knees and begins to turn over the pages. He 

stands over her. Lady Kitty a7id Porteous take 

surreptitious glances at one another. 

C.-C. I thought it might amuse you to see what pretty 

women looked like five-and-thirty years ago. That was 

the day of beautiful women. 

Elizabeth. Do you think they were more beautiful 
then than they are now? 

C.-C. Oh, much. Now you see lots of pretty little 
things, but very few beautiful women. 
Elizabeth. Aren't their clothes funny? 
C.-C. [Pointing to a photograph.] That's Mrs. Langtry. 
Elizabeth. She has a lovely nose. 
C.-C. She was the most wonderful thing you ever 
saw. Dowagers used to jump on chairs in order to get 



ACT III] THE CIRCLE 69 

a good look at her when she came into a drawing-room. 
I was riding with her once, and we had to have the gates 
of the Hvery stable closed when she was getting on her 
horse because the crowd was so great. 

Elizabeth. And who's that? 

C.-C. Lady Lonsdale. That's Lady Dudley. 

Elizabeth. This is an actress, isn't it? 

C.-C. It is, indeed. Ellen Terry. By George! how I 
loved that woman! 

Elizabeth. [fVith a smile.] Dear Ellen Terry! 

C.-C. That's Bwabs. I never saw a smarter man in 
my life. And Oliver Montagu. Henry Manners with 
his eye-glass. 

Elizabeth. Nice-looking, isn't he? And this? 

C.-C. That's Mary Anderson. I wish you could have 
seen her in "A Winter's Tale." Her beauty just took 
your breath away. And look! There's Lady Randolph. 
Bernal Osborne — the wittiest man I ever knew. 

Elizabeth. I think it's too sweet. I love their absurd 
bustles and those tight sleeves. 

C.-C. What figures they had! In those days a woman 
wasn't supposed to be as thin as a rail and as flat as a 
pancake. 

Elizabeth. Oh, but aren't they laced in? How could 
they bear it? 

C.-C. They didn't play golf then, and nonsense like 
that, you know. They hunted, in a tall hat and a long 
black habit, and they were very gracious and charitable 
to the poor in the village. 

Elizabeth. Did the poor like it? 

C.-C. They had a very thin time if they didn't. When 
they were in London they drove in the Park every after- 
noon, and they went to ten-course dinners, where they 
never met anybody they didn't know. And they had their 
box at the opera when Patti was singing or Madame Albani. 

Elizabeth. Oh, what a lovely little thing! Who on 
earth is that? 



70 THE CIRCLE [act hi 

C.-C. That? 

Elizabeth. She looks so fragile, like a piece of ex- 
quisite china, with all those furs on and her face up against 
her mufF, and the snow falling. 

C.-C. Yes, there was quite a rage at that time for being 
taken in an artificial snowstorm. 

Elizabeth. What a sweet smile, so roguish and frank, 
and debonair! Oh, I wish I looked like that! Do tell me 
who it is! 

C.-C. Don't you know? 
Elizabeth. No. 
C.-C. Why— it's Kitty. 

Elizabeth. Lady Kitty! [To Lady Kitty.] Oh, my 
dear, do look! It's too ravishing. [She takes the album over 
to her impulsively.] Why didn't you tell me you looked 
like 'that? Everybody must have been in love with 
you. 

[Lady Kitty takes the album and looks at it. Then 
she lets it slip from her hands and covers her jace with 
her hands. She is crying. 
[In consternation.] My dear, what's the matter? Oh, 
what have I done? I'm so sorry. 

Lady Kitty. Don't, don't talk to me. Leave me alone. 
It's stupid of me. 

[Elizabeth looks at her for a moment perplexed, then, 
turning round, slips her arm in Champion-Cheney's 
and leads him out on to the terrace. 
Elizabeth. [As they are going, in a whisper \ Did you 
do that on purpose? 

[Porteous gets up and goes over to Lady Kitty. He 
puts his hand on her shoulder. They remain thus for 
a little while. 
Porteous. I'm afraid I was very rude to you before 
dinner, Kitty. 

Lady Kitty. [Taking his hand which is on her shoulder.] 
It doesn't matter. I'm sure I was very exasperating. 
Porteous. I didn't mean what I said, you know. 



ACT in] THE CIRCLE 71 

Lady Kitty. Neither did L 

PoRTEOUS. Of course I know that Vd never have been 
Prime Minister. 

Lady Kitty. How can you talk such nonsense, Hughie ? 
No one would have had a chance if you'd remained in 
politics. 

PoRTEOus. I haven't the character. 

Lady Kitty. You have more character than anyone 
I Ve ever met. 

PoRTEOUS. Besides, I don't know that I much wanted 
to be Prime Minister. 

Lady Kitty. Oh, but I should have been so proud of 
you. Of course you'd have been Prime Minister. 

PoRTEOUS. I'd have given you India, you know. I 
think it would have been a very popular appointment. 

Lady Kitty. I don't care twopence about India. I'd 
have been quite content with Western Australia. 

PoRTEOUs. My dear, you don't think I'd have let you 
bury yourself in Western Australia? 

Lady Kitty. Or Barbadoes. 

PoRTEOUS. Never. It sounds like a cure for flat feet. 
I'd have kept you in London. 

[He picks up the album and is about to look at the photo- 
graph of Lady Kitty. She puts her hand over it. 

Lady Kitty. No, don't look. 

[He takes her hand away. 

Porteous. Don't be so silly. 

Lady Kitty. Isn't it hateful to grow old .? 

Porteous. You know, you haven't changed much. 

Lady Kitty. [Enchanted.] Oh, Hughie, how can you 
talk such nonsense? 

Porteous. Of course you're a little more mature, but 
that's all. A woman's all the better for being rather 
mature. 

Lady Kitty. Do you really think that ? 

Porteous. Upon my soul I do. 

Lady Kitty. You're not saying it just to please me? 



72 THE CIRCLE [act hi 

PoRTEOus. No, no. 

Lady Kitty. Let me look at the photograph again. 
[She takes the album and looks at the photograph com- 
placently. 
The fact is, if your bones are good, age doesn't really 
matter. You'll always be beautiful. 

PoRTEOUS. [With a little smile, almost as if he were talk- 
ing to a child.] It was silly of you to cry. 

Lady Kitty. It hasn't made my eyelashes run, has it.? 

PoRTEOUS. Not a bit. 

Lady Kitty. It's very good stuff I use now. They 
don't stick together either. 

PoRTEOUS. Look here, Kitty, how much longer do you 
want to stay here? 

Lady Kitty. Oh, I'm quite ready to go whenever you 
like. 

PoRTEOUS. Clive gets on my nerves. I don't like the 
way he keeps hanging about you. 

Lady Kitty. [Surprised, rather amused, and delighted.] 
Hughie, you don't mean to say you're jealous of poor 
Clive.? 

PoRTEOUS. Of course I'm not jealous of him, but he 
does look at you in a way that I can't help thinking rather 
objectionable. 

Lady Kitty. Hughie, you may throw me downstairs 
like Amy Robsart; you may drag me about the floor by 
the hair of my head; I don't care, you're jealous. I shall 
never grow old. 

PoRTEOUS. Damn it all, the man was your husband. 

Lady Kitty. My dear Hughie, he never had your style. 
Why, the moment you come into a room everyone looks 
and says: "Who the devil is that?" 

PoRTEOUS. What? You think that, do you? Well, I 
daresay there's something in what you say. These damned 
Radicals can say what they like, but, by God, Kitty! 
when a man's a gentleman — well, damn it all, you know 
what I mean. 



ACT III] THE CIRCLE 73 

Lady Kitty. I think Clive has degenerated dreadfully 
since we left him. 

PoRTEOUS. What do you say to making a bee-line for 
Italy and going to San Michele? 

Lady Kitty. Oh, Hughie! It's years since we were 
there. 

PoRTEOUS. Wouldn't you like to see it again — ^just 
once more? 

Lady Kitty. Do you remember the first time we went? 
It was the most heavenly place Fd ever seen. We'd only 
left England a month, and I said I'd like to spend all my 
life there. 

PoRTEOUS. Of course I remember. And in a fortnight 
it was yours, lock, stock and barrel. 

Lady Kitty. We were very happy there, Hughie. 

PoRTEOUS. Let's go back once more. 

Lady Kitty. I daren't. It must be all peopled with 
the ghosts of our past. One should never go again to a 
place where one has been happy. It would break my 
heart. 

/nPorteous. Do you remember how we used to sit on 
the terrace of the old castle and look at the Adriatic? We 
might have been the only people in the world, you and I, 
Kitty. 

Lady Kitty. [Tragically.] And we thought our love 
would last for ever. 

[Enter Champion-Cheney. 

PoRTEOUS. Is there any chance of bridge this evening? 

C.-C. I don't think we can make up a four. 

PoRTEOUS. What a nuisance that boy went away like 
that! He wasn't a bad player. 

C.-C. Teddie Luton? 

Lady Kitty. I think it was very funny his going with- 
out saying good-bye to anyone. 

C.-C. The young men of the present day are very 
casual. 

PoRTEOUS. I thought there was no train in the evening. 



74 THE CIRCLE [act hi 

C.-C. There isn't. The last train leaves at 5.45. 

PoRTEOUS. How did he go then? 

C.-C. He went. 

PoRTEOUS. Damned selfish I call it. 

Lady Kitty. [Intrigued.] Why did he go, Clive? 
[Champion-Cheney looks at her for a moment re- 
flectively. 

C.-C. I have something very grave to say to you. 
Elizabeth wants to leave Arnold. 

Lady Kitty. Clive! What on earth for.? 

C.-C. She's in love with Teddie Luton. That's why he 
went. The men of my family are really very unfortu- 
nate. 

PoRTEOUS. Does she want to run away with him ? 

Lady Kitty. [With consternation.] My dear, what's to 
be done.? 

C.-C. I think you can do a great deal. 

Lady Kitty. I? What? 

C.-C. Tell her, tell her what it means. 

[He looks at her fixedly. She stares at him. 

Lady Kitty. Oh, no, no! 

C.-C. She's a child. Not for Arnold's sake. For her 
sake. You must. 

Lady Kitty. You don't know what you're asking. 

C.-C. Yes, I do. 

Lady Kitty. Hughie, what shall I do? 

PoRTEOUS. Do what you like. I shall never blame you 
for anything. 

[The Footman comes in with a letter on a salver. He 
hesitates on seeing that Elizabeth is not in the room. 

C.-C. What is it? 

Footman. I was looking for Mrs. Champion-Cheney, 
sir. 

C.-C. She's not here. Is that a letter? 

Footman. Yes, sir. It's just been sent up from the 
"Champion Arms." 

C.-C. Leave it. I'll give it to Mrs. Cheney. 



ACT III] THE CIRCLE 75 

Footman. Very good, sir. 

[He brings the tray to Clive, who takes the letter. The 
Footman goes out. 
PoRTEOUS. Is the "Champion Arms" the local pub? 
C.-C. [Looking at the letter.] It's by way of being a 
hotel, but I never heard of anyone staying there. 

Lady Kitty. If there was no train I suppose he had to 
go there. 

C.-C. Great minds. I wonder what he has to write 
about! [He goes to the door leading on to the garden.] 
Elizabeth ! 

Elizabeth. [Outside.] Yes. 
C.-C. Here's a note for you. 

[There is silence. They wait for Elizabeth to come. 
She enters. 
Elizabeth. It's lovely in the garden to-night. 
C.-C. They've just sent this up from the "Champion 
Arms." 

Elizabeth. Thank you. 

[Without embarrassment she opens the letter. They 
watch her while she reads it. It covers three pages. 
She puts it away in her bag. 
Lady Kitty. Hughie, I wish you'd fetch me a cloak. 
I'd like to take a little stroll in the garden, but after thirty 
years in Italy I find these English summers rather chilly. 
[Without a word Porte ous goes out. Elizabeth is 
lost in thought. 
I want to talk to Elizabeth, Clive. 
C.-C. I'll leave you. 

[He goes out. 
Lady Kitty. What does he say? 
Elizabeth. Who? 
Lady Kitty. Mr. Luton. 

Elizabeth. [Gives a little start. Then she looks at Lady 
Kitty.] They've told you ? 

Lady Kitty. Yes. And now they have I think I knew 
it all along. 



76 THE CIRCLE [act iii 

Elizabeth. I don't expect you to have much sympathy 
for me. Arnold is your son. 

Lady Kitty. So pitifully little. 

Elizabeth. I'm not suited for this sort of existence. 
Arnold wants me to take what he calls my place in Society. 
Oh, I get so bored with those parties in London. All those 
middle-aged painted women, in beautiful clothes, lollop- 
ing round ball-rooms with rather old young men. And 
the endless luncheons where they gossip about so-and-so's 
love affairs. 

Lady Kitty. Are you very much in love with Mr. 
Luton .? 

Elizabeth. I love him with all my heart. 

Lady Kitty. And he ? 

Elizabeth. He's never cared for anyone but me. He 
never will. 

Lady Kitty. Will Arnold let you divorce him? 

Elizabeth. No, he won't hear of it. He refuses even 
to divorce me. 

Lady Kitty. Why? 

Elizabeth. He thinks a scandal will revive all the old 
gossip. 

Lady Kitty. Oh, my poor child ! 

Elizabeth. It can't be helped. I'm quite willing to 
accept the consequences. 

Lady Kitty. You don't know what it is to have a 
man tied to you only by his honour. When married 
people don't get on they can separate, but if they're not 
married it's impossible. It's a tie that only death can sever. 

Elizabeth. If Teddie stopped caring for me I shouldn't 
want him to stay with me for five minutes. 

Lady Kitty. One says that when one's sure of a man's 
love, but when one isn't any more — oh, it's so different. 
In those circumstances one's got to keep a man's love. 
It's the only thing one has. 

Elizabeth. I'm a human being. I can stand 'on my 
own feet. 



ACT III] THE CIRCLE 77 

Lady Kitty. Have you any money of your own ? 

Elizabeth. None. 

Lady Kitty. Then how can you stand on your own 
feet.? You think Vm a silly, frivolous woman, but 
I've learned something in a bitter school. They can 
make what laws they like, they can give us the suffrage, 
but when you come down to bedrock it's the man who 
pays the piper who calls the tune. Woman will only be 
the equal of man when she earns her living in the same 
way that he does. 

Elizabeth. [Smiling.] It sounds rather funny to hear 
you talk like that. 

Lady Kitty. A cook who marries a butler can snap 
her fingers in his face because she can earn just as much 
as he can. But a woman in your position and a woman in 
mine will always be dependent on the men who keep them. 

Elizabeth. I don't want luxury. You don't know how 
sick I am of all this beautiful furniture. These over- 
decorated houses are like a prison in which I can't breathe. 
When I drive about in a Callot frock and a Rolls-Royce I 
envy the shop-girl in a coat and skirt whom I see jumping 
on the tailboard of a bus. 

Lady Kitty. You mean that if need be you could earn 
your own living? 

Elizabeth. Yes. 

Lady Kitty. What could you be? A nurse or a typist. 
It's nonsense. Luxury saps a woman's nerve. And when 
she's known it once it becomes a necessity. 

Elizabeth. That depends on the woman. 

Lady Kitty. When we're young we think we're dif- 
ferent from everyone else, but when we grow a little older 
we discover we're all very much of a muchness. 

Elizabeth. You're very kind to take so much trouble 
about me. 

Lady Kitty. It breaks my heart to think that you're 
going to make the same pitiful mistake that I made. 

Elizabeth. Oh, don't say it was that, don't, don't. 



78 THE CIRCLE [act hi 

Lady Kitty. Look at me, Elizabeth, and look at 
Hughie. Do you think it's been a success? If I had my 
time over again do you think I'd do it again? Do you 
think he would? 

Elizabeth. You see, you don't know how much I love 
Teddie. 

Lady Kitty. And do you think I didn't love Hughie? 
Do you think he didn't love me? 

Elizabeth. I'm sure he did. 

Lady Kitty. Oh, of course in the beginning it was 
heavenly. We felt so brave and adventurous and we were 
so much in love. The first two years were wonderful. 
People cut me, you know, but I didn't mind. I thought 
love was everything. It is a little uncomfortable when 
you come upon an old friend and go towards her eagerly, 
so glad to see her, and are met with an icy stare. 

Elizabeth. Do you think friends like that are worth 
having? 

Lady Kitty. Perhaps they're not very sure of them- 
selves. Perhaps they're honestly shocked. It's a test one 
had better not put one's friends to if one can help it. It's 
rather bitter to find how few one has. 

Elizabeth. But one has some. 

Lady Kitty. Yes, they ask you to come and see them 
when they're quite certain no one will be there who might 
object to meeting you. Or else they say to you: **My 
dear, you know I'm devoted to you, and I wouldn't mind 
at all, but my girl's growing up — I'm sure you understand; 
you won't think it unkind of me if I don't ask you to the 
house?" 

Elizabeth. [Smiling.] That doesn't seem to me very 
serious. 

Lady Kitty. At first I thought it rather a relief, be- 
cause it threw Hughie and me together more. But you 
know, men are very funny. Even when they are in love 
they're not in love all day long. They want change and 
recreation. 



ACT III] THE CIRCLE 79 

Elizabeth. Fm not inclined to blame them for that, 
poor dears. 

Lady Kitty. Then we settled in Florence. And be- 
cause we couldn't get the society we'd been used to we 
became used to the society we could get. Loose women 
and vicious men. Snobs who liked to patronise people 
with a handle to their names. Vague Italian Princes who 
were glad to borrow a few francs from Hughie and seedy 
countesses who liked to drive with me in the Cascine. 
And then Hughie began to hanker after his old life. He 
wanted to go big game shooting, but I dared not let him 
go. I was afraid he'd never come back. 

Elizabeth. But you knew he loved you. 

Lady Kitty. Oh, my dear, what a blessed institution 
marriage is — for women, and what fools they are to 
meddle with it! The Church is so wise to take its stand 
on the indi — indi — 

Elizabeth. Solu — 

Lady Kitty. Bility of marriage. Believe me, it's no 
joke when you have to rely only on yourself to keep a man. 
I could never afford to grow old. My dear, I'll tell you a 
secret that I've never told a living soul. 

Elizabeth. What is that.? 

Lady Kitty. My hair is not naturally this colour. 

Elizabeth. Really. 

Lady Kitty. I touch it up. You would never have 
guessed, would you? 

Elizabeth. Never. 

Lady Kitty. Nobody does. My dear, it's white, 
prematurely of course, but white. I always think it's a 
symbol of my life. Are you interested in symbolism ? I 
think it's too wonderful. 

Elizabeth. I don't think I know very much about it. 

Lady Kitty. However tired I've been I've had to be 
brilliant and gay. I've never let Hughie see the aching 
heart behind my smiling eyes. 

Elizabeth. [Amused and touched.] You poor dear. 



80 THE CIRCLE [act iii 

Lady Kitty. And when I saw he was attracted by some 
one else the fear and the jealousy that seized me! You 
see, I didn't dare make a scene as I should have done if 
I'd been married — I had to pretend not to notice. 

Elizabeth. [Taken aback.] But do you mean to say 
he fell in love with anyone else ? 

Lady Kitty. Of course he did eventually. 

Elizabeth. [Hardly knowing what to say.] You must 
have been very unhappy. 

Lady Kitty. Oh, I was, dreadfully. Night after night 
I sobbed my heart out when Hughie told me he was going 
to play cards at the club and I knew he was with that 
odious woman. Of course, it wasn't as if there weren't 
plenty of men who were only too anxious to console me. 
Men have always been attracted by me, you know. 

Elizabeth. Oh, of course, I can quite understand it. 

Lady Kitty. But I had my self-respect to think of. 
I felt that whatever Hughie did I would do nothing that 
I should regret. 

Elizabeth. You must be very glad now. 

Lady Kitty. Oh, yes. Notwithstanding all my tempta- 
tions I've been absolutely faithful to Hughie in spirit. 

Elizabeth. I don't think I quite understand what you 
mean. 

Lady Kitty. Well, there was a poor Italian boy, young 
Count Castel Giovanni, who was so desperately in love 
with me that his mother begged me not to be too cruel. 
She was afraid he'd go into a consumption. What could 
I do? And then, oh, years later, there was Antonio 
Melita. He said he'd shoot himself unless I-— well, you 
understand I couldn't let the poor boy shoot himself. 

Elizabeth. D'you think he really would have shot 

himself? 

Lady Kitty. Oh, one never knows, you know. Those 
Italians are so passionate. He was really rather a lamb. 
He had such beautiful eyes. 

[Elizabeth looks at her for a long time and a cer- 



ACT III] THE CIRCLE 81 

tain horror seizes her of this dissolute, painted old 
woman. 

Elizabeth. [Hoarsely.] Oh, but I think that's — dread- 
ful. 

Lady Kitty. Are you shocked.? One sacrifices one's 
life for love and then one finds that love doesn't last. 
The tragedy of love isn't death or separation. One gets 
over them. The tragedy of love is indifference. 

[Arnold comes in. 

Arnold. Can I have a little talk with you, Elizabeth? 

Elizabeth. Of course. 

Arnold. Shall we go for a stroll in the garden? 

Elizabeth. If you like. 

Lady Kitty. No, stay here. I'm going out anyway. 

[Exit Lady Kitty. 

Arnold. I want you to listen to me for a few minutes, 
Elizabeth. I was so taken aback by what you told me 
just now that I lost my head. I was rather absurd and 
I beg your pardon. I said things I regret. 

Elizabeth. Oh, don't blame yourself. I'm sorry that 
I should have given you occasion to say them. 

Arnold. I want to ask you if you've quite made up 
your mind to go. 

Elizabeth. Quite. 

Arnold. Just now I seem to have said all that I didn't 
want to say and nothing that I did. I'm stupid and 
tongue-tied. I never told you how deeply I loved you. 

Elizabeth. Oh, Arnold! 

Arnold. Please let me speak now. It's so very dif- 
ficult. If I seemed absorbed in politics and the house, 
and so on, to the exclusion of my interest in you, I'm 
dreadfully sorry. I suppose it was absurd of me to think 
you would take my great love for granted. 

Elizabeth. But, Arnold, I'm not reproaching you. 

Arnold. I'm reproaching myself. I've been tactless 
and neglectful. But I do ask you to believe that it hasn't 
been because I didn't love you. Can you forgive me? 



82 THE CIRCLE [act hi 

Elizabeth. I don't think that there's anything to 
forgive. 

Arnold. It wasn't till to-day when you talked of leav- 
ing me that I realised how desperately in love with you I 
was. 

Elizabeth. After three years? 

Arnold. I'm so proud of you. I admire you so much. 
When I see you at a party, so fresh and lovely, and every- 
body wondering at you, I have a sort of little thrill because 
you're mine, and afterwards I shall take you home. 

Elizabeth. Oh, Arnold, you're exaggerating. 

Arnold. I can't imagine this house without you. Life 
seems on a sudden all empty and meaningless. Oh, 
Elizabeth, don't you love me at all? 

Elizabeth. It's much better to be honest. No. 

Arnold. Doesn't my love mean anything to you ? 

Elizabeth. I'm very grateful to you. I'm sorry to 
cause you pain. What would be the good of my staying 
with you when I should be wretched all the time? 

Arnold. Do you love that man as much as all that? 
Does my unhappiness mean nothing to you? 

Elizabeth. Of course it does. It breaks my heart. 
You see, I never knew I meant so much to you. I'm so 
touched. And I'm so sorry, Arnold, really sorry. But I 
can't help myself. 

Arnold. Poor child, it's cruel of me to torture you. 

Elizabeth. Oh, A.rnold, believe me, I have tried to 
make the best of it. I've tried to love you, but I can't. 
After all, one either loves or one doesn't. Trying is no 
help. And now I'm at the end of my tether. I can't 
help the consequences — I must do what my whole self 
yearns for. 

Arnold. My poor child, I'm so afraid you'll be un- 
happy. I'm so afraid you'll regret. 

Elizabeth. You must leave me to my fate. I hope 
you'll forget me and all the unhappiness I've caused you. 

Arnold. [There is a pause. Arnold walks up and 



ACT III] THE CIRCLE 83 

down the room reflectively. He stops and faces her. \ If you 
love this man and want to go to him I'll do nothing to 
prevent you. My only wish is to do what is best for you. 

Elizabeth. Arnold, that's awfully kind of you. IfFm 
treating you badly at least I want you to know that Fm 
grateful for all your kindness to me. 

Arnold. But there's one favour I should like you to 
do me. Will you? 

Elizabeth. Oh, Arnold, of course I'll do anything I 
can. 

Arnold. Teddie hasn't very much money. You've 
been used to a certain amount of luxury, and I can't bear 
to think that you should do without anything you've had. 
It would kill me to think that you were suffering any 
hardship or privation. 

Elizabeth. Oh, but Teddie can earn enough for our 
needs. After all, we don't want much money. 

Arnold. I'm afraid my mother's Hfe hasn't been very 
easy, but it's obvious that the only thing that's made it 
possible is that Porteous was rich. I want you to let me 
make you an allowance of two thousand a year. 

Elizabeth. Oh, no, I couldn't think of it. It's absurd. 

Arnold. I beg you to accept it. You don't know what 
a difference it will make. 

Elizabeth. It's awfully kind of you, Arnold. It 
humiliates me to speak about it. Nothing would induce 
me to take a penny from you. 

Arnold. Well, you can't prevent me from opening an 
account at my bank in your name. The money shall be 
paid in every quarter whether you touch it or not, and if 
you happen to want it, it will be there waiting for you. 

Elizabeth. You overwhelm me, Arnold. There's only 
one thing I want you to do for me. I should be very 
grateful if you would divorce me as soon as you possibly 
can. 

Arnold. No, I won't do that. But I'll give you cause 
to divorce me. 



84 THE CIRCLE [act hi 

Elizabeth. You! 

Arnold. Yes. But of course you'll have to be very 
careful for a bit. I'll put it through as quickly as possible, 
but I'm afraid you can't hope to be free for over six months. 

Elizabeth. But, Arnold, your seat and your political 
career! 

Arnold. Oh, well, my father gave up his seat under 
similar circumstances. He's got along very comfortably 
without politics. 

Elizabeth. But they're your whole life. 

Arnold. After all one can't have it both ways. You 
can't serve God and Mammon. If you want to do the 
decent thing you have to be prepared to suffer for it. 

Elizabeth. But I don't want you to suffer for it. 

Arnold. At first I rather hesitated at the scandal. 
But I daresay that was only weakness on my part. Under 
the circumstances I should have liked to keep out of the 
Divorce Court if I could. 

Elizabeth. Arnold, you're making me absolutely 
miserable. 

Arnold. What you said before dinner was quite right. 
It's nothing for a man, but it makes so much difference to 
a woman. Naturally I must think of you first. 

Elizabeth. That's absurd. It's out of the question. 
Whatever there's to pay I must pay it. 

Arnold. It's not very much I'm asking you, Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth. I'm taking everything from you. 

Arnold. It's the only condition I make. My mind is 
absolutely made up. I will never divorce you, but I will 
enable you to divorce me. 

Elizabeth. Oh, Arnold, it's cruel to be so generous. 

Arnold. It's not generous at all. It's the only way I 
have of showing you how deep and passionate and sincere 
my love is for you. 

[There is a silence. He holds out his hand. 
Good-night. I have a great deal of work to do before I 
go to bed. 



ACT III] THE CIRCLE 85 

Elizabeth. Good-night. 

Arnold. Do you mind if I kiss you ? 

Elizabeth. [With agony.] Oh, Arnold! 

[He gravely kisses her on the forehead and then goes out, 
Elizabeth stands lost in thought. She is shattered. 
Lady Kitty and Porteous come in. Lady Kitty 
wears a cloak. 

Lady Kitty. You're alone, Elizabeth ? 

Elizabeth. That note you asked me about. Lady Kitty, 
from Teddie . . . 

Lady Kitty. Yes? 

Elizabeth. He wanted to have a talk with me before 
he went away. He's waiting for me in the summer house 
by the tennis court. Would Lord Porteous mind going 
down and asking him to come here.? 

Porteous. Certainly. Certainly. 

Elizabeth. Forgive me for troubling you. But it's 
very important. 

Porteous. No trouble at all. 

[He goes out. 

Lady Kitty. Hughie and I will leave you alone. 

Elizabeth. But I don't want to be left alone. I want 
you to stay. 

Lady Kitty. What are you going to say to him .? 

Elizabeth. [Desperately.] Please don't ask me ques- 
tions. I'm so frightfully unhappy. 

Lady Kitty. My poor child ! 

Elizabeth. Oh, isn't life rotten? Why can't one be 
happy without making other people unhappy? 

Lady Kitty. I wish I knew how to help you. I'm 
simply devoted to you. [She hunts about in her mind for 
something to do or say.] Would you like my lip-stick? 

Elizabeth. [Smiling through her tears.] Thanks. I 
never use one. 

Lady Kitty. Oh, but just try. It's such a comfort 
when you're in trouble. 

[Enter Porteous and Teddie. 



86 THE CIRCLE [act hi 

PoRTEOUS. I brought him. He said he'd be damned if 
he'd come. 

Lady Kitty. When a lady sent for him ? Are these the 
manners of the young men of to-day.? 

Teddie. When you've been solemnly kicked out of a 
house once I think it seems rather pushing to come back 
again as though nothing had happened. 

Elizabeth. Teddie, I want you to be serious. 

Teddie. Darling, I had such a rotten dinner at that 
pub. If you ask me to be serious on the top of that I 
shall cry. 

Elizabeth. Don't be idiotic, Teddie. [Her voice falter- 
ing.] I'm so utterly wretched. 

[He looks at her for a moment gravely. 

Teddie. What is it? 

Elizabeth. I can't come away with you, Teddie. 

Teddie. Why not? 

Elizabeth. [Looking away in embarrassment.] I don't 
love you enough. 

Teddie. Fiddle! 

Elizabeth. [With a flash of anger.] Don't say "Fiddle" 
to me. 

Teddie. I shall say exactly what I like to you. 

Elizabeth. I won't be bullied. 

Teddie. Now look here, Elizabeth, you know perfectly 
well that I'm in love with you, and I know perfectly well 
that you're in love with me. So what are you talking non- 
sense for? 

Elizabeth. [Her voice breaking.] I can't say it if you're 
cross with me. 

Teddie. [Smiling very tenderly.] I'm not cross with 
you, silly. 

Elizabeth. It's harder still when you're being rather 
an owl. 

Teddie. [With a chuckle.] Am I mistaken in thinking 
you're not very easy to please? 

Elizabeth. Oh, it's monstrous. I was all wrought up 



ACT III] THE CIRCLE 87 

and ready to do anything, and now you've thoroughly put 
me out. I feel like a great big fat balloon that some one 
has put a long pin into. [With a sudden look at him.] Have 
you done it on purpose? 

Teddie. Upon my soul I don't know what you're talk- 
ing about. 

Elizabeth. I wonder if you're really much cleverer than 
I think you are. 

Teddie. [Taking her hands and making her sit down.] 
Now tell me exactly what you want to say. By the 
way, do you want Lady Kitty and Lord Porteous to be 
here? 

Elizabeth. Yes. 

Lady Kitty. Elizabeth asked us to stay. 

Teddie. Oh, I don't mind, bless you. I only thought 
you might feel rather in the way. 

Lady Kitty. [Frigidly.] A gentlewoman never feels in 
the way, Mr. Luton. 

Teddie. Won't you call me Teddie? Everybody does, 
you know. 

[Lady Kitty tries to give him a withering look, but she 
finds it very difficult to prevent herself from smiling. 
Teddie strokes Elizabeth's hands. She draws them 
away. 

Elizabeth. No, don't do that. Teddie, it wasn't true 
when I said I didn't love you. Of course I love you. But 
Arnold loves me, too. I didn't know how much. 

Teddie. What has he been saying to you? 

Elizabeth. He's been very good to me, and so kind. 
I didn't know he could be so kind. He offered to let me 
divorce him. 

Teddie. That's very decent of him. 

Elizabeth. But don't you see, it ties my hands. How 
can I accept such a sacrifice ? I should never forgive myself 
if I profited by his generosity. 

Teddie. If another man and I were devilish hungry 
and there was only one mutton chop between us, and he 



88 THE CIRCLE [act hi 

said, "You eat it,'* I wouldn't waste a lot of time arguing. 
I'd wolf it before he changed his mind. 

Elizabeth. Don't talk like that. It maddens me. I'm 
trying to do the right thing. 

Teddie. You're not in love with Arnold; you're in love 
with me. It's idiotic to sacrifice your life for a slushy 
sentiment. 

Elizabeth. After all, I did marry him. 

Teddie. Well, you made a mistake. A marriage with- 
out love is no marriage at all. 

Elizabeth. / made the mistake. Why should he suffer 
for it.f* If anyone has to suffer it's only right that I 
should. 

Teddie. What sort of a life do you think it would be 
with him? When two people are married it's very difficult 
for one of them to be unhappy without making the other 
unhappy too. 

Elizabeth. I can't take advantage of his generosity. 

Teddie. I daresay he'll get a lot of satisfaction out of it. 

Elizabeth. You're being beastly, Teddie. He was 
simply wonderful. I never knew he had it in him. He 
was really noble. 

Teddie. You are talking rot, Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth. I wonder if you'd be capable of acting like 
that. 

Teddie. Acting like what.? 

Elizabeth. What would you do if I were married to 
you and came and told you I loved somebody else and 
wanted to leave you.? * 

Teddie. You have very pretty blue eyes, Elizabeth. 
I'd black first one and then the other. And after that 
we'd see. 

Elizabeth. You damned brute! 

Teddie. I've often thought I wasn't quite a gentleman. 
Had it ever struck you? 

[They look at one another for a while. 
^^,, Elizabeth. You know, you are taking an unfair ad- 



ACT III] THE CIRCLE 89 

vantage of me. I feel as if I came to you quite unsuspect- 
ingly and when I wasn't looking you kicked me on the 
shins. 

Teddie. Don't you think we'd get on rather well 
together? 

PoRTEOUS. Elizabeth's a fool if she don't stick to her 
husband. It's bad enough for the man, but for the woman 
— it's damnable. I hold no brief for Arnold. He plays 
bridge like a foot. Saving your presence, Kitty, I think 
he's a prig. 

Lady Kitty. Poor dear, his father was at his age. I 
daresay he'll grow out of it. 

PoRTEOUS. But you stick to him, Elizabeth, stick to 
him. Man is a gregarious animal. We're members of a 
herd. If we break the herd's laws we suffer for it. And we 
suffer damnably. 

Lady Kitty. Oh, Elizabeth, my dear child, don't go. 
It's not worth it. It's not worth it. I tell you that, and 
I've sacrificed everything to love. 

[A pause. 

Elizabeth. I'm afraid. 

Teddie. [In a whisper.] Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth. I can't face it. It's asking too much of me. 
Let's say good-bye to one another, Teddie. It's the only 
thing to do. And have pity on me. I'm giving up all my 
hope of happiness. 

[He goes up to her and looks into her eyes. 

Teddie. But I wasn't offering you happiness. I don't 
think my sort of love tends to happiness. I'm jealous. 
I'm not a very easy man to get on with. I'm often out of 
temper and irritable. I should be fed to the teeth with you 
sometimes, and so would you be with me. I daresay we'd 
fight like cat and dog, and sometimes we'd hate each other. 
Often you'd be wretched and bored stiff and lonely, and 
often you'd be frightfully homesick, and then you'd regret 
all you'd lost. Stupid women would be rude to you be- 
cause we'd run away together. And some of them would 



90 THE CIRCLE [act hi 

cut you. I don't offer you peace and quietness. I offer you 
unrest and anxiety. I don't offer you happiness. I offer 
you love. 

Elizabeth. [Stretching out her arms.] You hateful 
creature, I absolutely adore you! 

[He throws his arms round her and kisses her passion- 
ately on the lips. 

Lady Kitty. Of course the moment he said he'd give 
her a black eye I knew it was finished. 

PoRTEOus. [Good-humouredly.] You are a fool, Kitty. 

Lady Kitty. I know I am, but I can't help it. 

Teddie. Let's make a bolt for it now. 

Elizabeth. Shall we? 

Teddie. This minute. 

PoRTEOUs. You're damned fools, both of you, damned 
fools! If you like you can have my car. 

Teddie. That's awfully kind of you. As a matter of 
fact I got it out of the garage. It's just along the drive. 

PoRTEOUS. [Indignantly.] How do you mean, you got 
it out of the garage? 

Teddie. Well, I thought there'd be a lot of bother, and 
it seemed to me the best thing would be for Elizabeth 
and me not to stand upon the order of our going, you 
know. Do it now. An excellent motto for a business man. 

PoRTEOUS. Do you mean to say you were going to 
steal my car? 

Teddie. Not exactly. I was only going to bolshevise 
it, so to speak. 

PoRTEOUs. I'm speechless. I'm absolutely speechless. 

Teddie. Hang it all, I couldn't carry Elizabeth all the 
way to London. She's so damned plump. 

Elizabeth. You dirty dog! 

PoRTEOUS. [Spluttering.] Well, well, well! . . . [Help- 
lessly.] I like him, Kitty, it's no good pretending I don't. 
I like him. 

Teddie. The moon's shining, Elizabeth. We'll drive 
all through the night. 



L^^;.i/3i 



ACT III] THE CIRCLE 91 

PoRTEOUS. They'd better go to San Michele. I'll wire 
to have it got ready for them. 

Lady Kitty. That's where we went when Hughie and 
I . . . [Faltering.] Oh, you dear things, how I envy you! 

PoRTEOUS. [Mopping his eyes.] Now don't cry, Kitty. 
Confound you, don't cry. 

Teddie. Come, darling. 

Elizabeth. But I can't go like this. 

Teddie. Nonsense! Lady Kitty will lend you her 
cloak. Won't you? 

Lady Kitty. [Taking it of .] You're capable of tearing 
it off my back if I don't. 

Teddie. [Putting the cloak on Elizabeth.] And we'll 
buy you a tooth-brush in London in the morning. 

Lady Kitty. She must write a note for Arnold. I'll put 
it on her pincushion. 

Teddie. Pincushion be blowed ! Come, darling. We'll 
drive through the dawn and through the sunrise. 

Elizabeth. [Kissing Lady Kitty and Porteous.] 
Good-bye. Good-bye. 

[Teddie stretches out his hand and she takes it. Hand 
in hand they go out into the night. 

Lady Kitty. Oh, Hughie, how it all comes back to me! 
Will they suffer all we suffered ? And have we suffered all 
in vain ? 

Porteous. My dear, I don't know that in life it mat- 
ters so much what you do as what you are. No one can 
learn by the experience of another because no circum- 
stances are quite the same. If we made rather a hash of 
things perhaps it was because we were rather trivial 
people. You can do anything in this world if you're pre- 
pared to take the consequences, and consequences depend 
on character. 

[Enter Champion-Cheney, rubbing his hands. He is 
as pleased as Punch. 

C.-C. Well, I think I've settled the hash of that young 
man. 



92 THE CIRCLE [act hi 

Lady Kitty. Oh ! 

C.-C. You have to get up very early in the morning to 
get the better of your humble servant. 

[There is the sound of a car starting. 

Lady Kitty. What is that? 

C.-C. It sounds like a car. I expect it's your chauffeur 
taking one of the maids for a joy-ride. 

PoRTEOUS. Whose hash are you talking about? 

C.-C. Mr. Edward Luton's, my dear Hughie. I told 
Arnold exactly what to do and he's done it. What makes 
a prison? Why, bars and bolts. Remove them and a 
prisoner won't want to escape. Clever, I flatter myself. 

PoRTEOUS. You were always that, Clive, but at the 
moment you're obscure. 

C.-C. I told Arnold to go to Elizabeth and tell her she 
could have her freedom. I told him to sacrifice himself 
all along the line. I know what women are. The moment 
every obstacle was removed to her marriage with Teddie 
Luton, half the allurement was gone. 

Lady Kitty. Arnold did that? 

C.-C. He followed my instructions to the letter. I've 
just seen him. She's shaken. I'm willing to bet five 
hundred pounds to a penny that she won't bolt. A 
downy old bird, eh ? Downy's the word. Downy. 

[He begins to laugh. They laugh, too. Presently they 
are all three in jits of laughter. 

[The Curtain Falls] 



THE END 



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